Young Man's Fancy
by LJ Summers
Summary: WINNER: BEST CARLISLE/BELLA FIC at The Non-Canon Awards! Can a vampire love again when his true mate's existence has been ended? Carlisle comes to Forks before the rest of the Cullens, meeting Bella Swan in – predictably – the ER. Their romance is allowed to flourish...until Edward catches her scent. This is NOT a romantic triangle.
1. Portrait of the Doctor as a Young Man

Written for **Bells. Just Bells., duskwatcher, katmom** and **valelf** - the winning bidders on my _Fandom Gives Back, Eclipse Edition_ auction offering.

Thank you for contributing to the fight against pediatric cancers! You ladies rock!

**_This is a work of derivative fiction. All things TWILIGHT are the intellectual property of Stephenie Meyer and/or her assignees. I write merely to entertain myself and others and receive no compensation._**

My gratitude is lushly extended to **u2shay**, who beta'd for me. Without her, this would not be remotely worth reading. Also to **anndeveria** for her Italian translations. Thank you for not letting me embarrass myself, ladies!

* * *

_**Chapter One: Portrait of the Doctor as a Young Man**_

_**Carlisle POV**_

_This is...different,_ I thought at my reflection as I prepared to go to work this misty Washington January morning. Alice had given me a makeover before I relocated. A rather _drastic_ makeover.

My "sometime-daughter" had playfully clucked her tongue at me as dawn slipped in through a pristine window in Tennessee. "Carlisle, since you asked, I have to tell you that you look like a Ken doll."

Puzzled, I had craned my head up to look at her as she stood behind me. "A what?"

"A Ken doll. Barbie and Ken by Mattel? Dolls for little girls?" She turned my head so that we were both gazing into the mirror. "We all know you're gorgeous, but you're looking almost pre-fab. I suggest you go brunette for a while. I think – No, I _know_ you'll like it." Her face beamed with satisfaction and I tried to smile for her.

"You're the psychic."

"And the stylist!"

"And the stylist. Style away."

By the end of that day, I looked like a new man. Not something the average vampire can say at this point in their existence.

"No more Ken Doll?" I inquired with half a smile as I stood in front of the antique mirror in my bedroom.

Alice eyed me critically in our shared reflection. "I like the dark, mussed hair. You're a young, genius doc and you look it. You apparently stepped off the pages of the _Jos. A. Bank _catalog. You look sharp, stylish, but not," and here she lowered her voice to an ominous whisper, "three hundred and seventy years old."

From somewhere – some lost, forgotten corner of my psyche – I found a chuckle. "Well, praise the holies for that, Alice. My patients would think I'd be treating them with _leeches_."

[+]

_**Three months prior:**_

Rosalie took me aside, her hand firm around my arm, her eyes dark with thirst. "Carlisle, we need to move on. I miss Esme, too. But it's been three years and we're getting – we're getting _old_, _Dad_." Regret laced her voice. "You don't look anywhere near thirty-five, you know." With a nod, she indicated the mirror in the first floor hallway. It was a decorative piece, purchased from Tiffany's in the 1930's, after Esme and I...

"I know," I murmured at last, taking in our reflection, Rose's and mine. "I know." Rose was forever frozen at eighteen, as I was at twenty-three. Clothing, eye-wear and temporary hair color could age us to an extent, but she was completely correct. I could not pass for a man in my mid-thirties. Not really. She did better in her role as a graduate student.

"Edward and I will finish our studies this year," Rose said, assuming – again – the role of family matriarch. She was good at it though, and it was easy to let her manage us. Alice planned events and kept an eye on our finances; Rose managed the bigger picture as well as the domestic routines. And Emmett managed Rose.

Edward... Being the only single person in our family for most of its history, Edward managed our days. He kept abreast of the minds about us. Made sure all was as it should be. And even _he_ had suggested two years ago that we needed to move on. Botox injections could only explain so much. I had been unable to move on, however. My heart could not seem to leave the place where my mate had last been with me. But it was time, I knew. _More_ than time.

"All right, everyone in the living room," I requested, not raising my voice. Everyone was listening – the expectant attitude was vibrating all over our house.

Jasper arrived first, his laptop in tow. Jasper had grown so much since Esme's...accident. I felt – sad as it was – that our family did not truly appreciate him until after Esme was lost to us. His gift of interactive empathy not only assured that he was aware of everyone's emotional state – something my wife had kept tabs on for us before – but he also was able to best minister to our emotional needs. And Alice ministered to his.

It had been a freak thing, Esme's death. One of those rare unfathomables of our lives. Instant decapitation and incineration was not a common form of accident for one of our kind, outside of Volterra. If I could sleep, nightmares would yet be plaguing me, I was certain.

It had been three years and Rose and the others were right. It was time to move on. I had lost my mate, the pain would never be gone entirely, but I still had much to live for with my family.

"I propose we move back to the Olympic Peninsula," I said, settling myself in my usual leather chair. In front of me my family sat in different postures, leaning forward in attention. "It's so cloudy we can be out more than three hundred days a year."

"Almost like being normal!" Rose sighed happily, leaning into Emmett as they reclined on the white leather sofa. Esme had chosen a pale palette for this room...

I shook off the too-clear memories. "I'll go scout us out a place and find a good, small hospital or clinic for myself. Someplace near a school."

"_High school _again, Carlisle?" Edward wondered, sounding resigned.

"Only if you want, son." I smiled lopsidedly. "We could set you up as my intern or something, if you'd rather. Or you could go to college. Seattle is a good hub for transportation and education."

Edward nodded. "I'd like that."

Alice raised her hand. "I _like_ high school."

Jasper groaned. "Sweetheart, I can't sit through that routine again. How about a liberal arts college?"

Alice threw up her hands. "Fine! I can major in fashion merchandising. Again."

"It's changed since the seventies, thank the Lord," Jasper muttered. An instant debate flared over which decade had the worst fashion sense, the seventies or the eighties. I could have told them that the 1690's were even more outlandish, but none of them had that reference point.

I shook my head. "Any particular reason I even have to be a father figure?" I mused aloud. It wasn't as if any of "my children" needed a _dad_. We were family, yes, but the youngest of us was Emmett, and he had been immortal for more than seventy years.

Edward eyed me sharply from his spot on the floor near Alice's feet. "You're our creator, though, for most of us. And you've always stood in that role, you know."

_I know. But... It doesn't feel right without Esme._

Edward nodded, grimacing. "Then be our brother, Carlisle." He grinned a little at me. "Or Rose's brother, maybe?"

Jasper's smile was easy. "Now that'd be a switch. I was the same age when I was turned as you were, right?" Wouldn't I make a hell of a father figure? The laughing question was in his gaze as he turned to his wife.

Alice slapped him on the shoulder. "Oh no. I'm not turning into a maternal person. No way. Nuh-uh."

I laughed. "No, I can't really see that either, Alice."

"Well that's a relief!" She threw herself on Jasper's lap. "I'd rather make googly eyes at him than waggle my finger at the rest of you."

Rose exhaled loudly. "We could just go the easy way. Carlisle and Jasper and I are Cullens – since Carlisle's the oldest and it _is_ his last name. We should use it because his medical paperwork will be harder to forge than anyone else's documents. Then Alice and Emmett and Edward can be –"

"McCartys!" Emmett laughed at the idea.

"Masens!" Alice giggled. "I haven't been Alice Masen ever!"

Edward angled a brow at me. "Are you sure?"

_What, you're 109 and think you need a father, now? _I asked him silently.

He snorted quietly. "No, but you know we all value your wisdom."

_It's still here, such as it is. With the rest of me, such as I am._

After some more discussion, we decided upon a good working back story and some of the practical immediate actions. I upped my age by a few years – that was my custom as a practicing physician and I'd been doing it for at least a century and a half – and we started our preliminary research.

We decided to go to either Forks or Port Angeles. Forks was smaller, but Port Angeles was home to a junior college as well as a port and more business opportunities. We could probably find a property in between the two, to keep us flexible.

Then, it was all a matter of applying for a job. Fortunately, it was a process with which I was greatly familiar.

[+]

_**Present day**_

"Thank you," I told the real estate agent. "I think this'll be fine for us." I manufactured a smile as Mrs. Crowley took me through the old-fashioned home in the woods. There was a three-mile private drive to reach the white, clapboard structure. Lush greenery and wildlife and even a river accented the property. "My brother and sister and their spouses will all be very comfortable here." And Edward. Of course. He had never quite fit the usual patterns.

The paperwork for the house was done. I slid comfortably into my role as a physician at the local hospital and spent a great deal of time in thought. Because after all was said and done, without the others, I was lonely. Lonely in a way I hadn't experienced since before Edward joined me almost a century before.

January passed in a wet blur, followed by a frigid February. The persistent dismal weather of the Olympic Peninsula was punctuated by car accidents and the occasional knife fight. The latest such altercation was how I met the local Police Chief, Charlie Swan.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Cullen," the taciturn gentleman said to me over the bleeding body of a Quileute man who refused – with a grim determination that concerned me – treatment. A young man by the name of Quil Ateara had been assaulted by a couple of the local toughs for no apparent cause. The tribal elders had phoned and said one of their own would be picking Quil up. The Chief of Police grimaced. "Some of them out there are kinda superstitious," he murmured.

I caught Quil's eye, evaluating his scent with memories I would never be able to shed. He only knew the stories; there was no taint of wolf in his blood. Yet. Would that change, I wondered, now that we had met?

"Don't worry about it, Chief Swan. I wouldn't wish to interfere in the local customs."

"Call me Charlie."

"I'm Carlisle." I nodded instead of shaking hands; latex gloves were nicely off-putting in these circumstances. Chief Swan was undoubtedly a no-nonsense sort of man; explaining skin as hard as marble and as cold as the roof of a car in mid-February would have been awkward, at best. "Good to meet you, Charlie."

"Wish the circumstances were better, Carlisle."

Quil Ateara coughed jaggedly. "Sorry, doc. Sometimes, the elders..."

I brushed my hand lightly over his tousled hair. He was so young. Perhaps eighteen or nineteen, all gangly limbs and soft features. "I do understand, Mr. Ateara. Completely." _I remember your great-grandfather. He was a wise man. Does he yet live? Will you survive our meeting unscathed?_

More questions that would likely go without answers.

\ \ \ \ \/ / / / /

An odd thing happened during the months leading up to early April. Well, it wasn't a _thing_ so much as a state of being. Without the presence of my darling Esme, without even the façade of "the children" being around me, I was reminded that I was, in physical age, a man in his twenties. Only twenty-three, as Jasper had pointed out in his amusing way. Posing as twenty-eight, but still, a young man as such things are reckoned. No wedding ring on my finger, no parental obligations to fulfill. Only the conversations about my _brother_ and _sister_, and how it was certainly unusual, yes, for a sister and a brother of mine to have fallen in love with another set of siblings. Not unheard of, certainly, but unusual.

"And you, Dr. Cullen?" Sally, one of the nurses, asked coyly. "Was there a third sister for you?"

And here, I could be genuine. "Not for me. My wife passed away a few years ago."

Flirtatious flutterings flew out the window. "Oh, Dr. Cullen. I'm so sorry. You're so young to be a widower." Nurses encountered that state of being often, and Sally was appropriately sensitive, I felt.

Still, I was regarded as a young man... Because I looked like one. I dressed like one. I adapted myself to the current manners of one.

Could I help it if I became lonely like one, too?

Such was my state of mind one icy day in early April. A sudden freeze had laid down black ice on the roads, causing not a few accidents. I was brought in even though I wasn't on call. Forks General was a small place and I was needed. Fortunately, fatigue was not an issue for me. It was later in the evening, at seven minutes past ten, when two different ambulances brought in two different cases from the same accident scene.

"Impaled on his stick shift, Dr. Gerandy!" The senior physician blew out a breath as he triaged the patient. I could smell some kind of cheap scotch on the patient's breath from across the emergency room. Dr. Gerandy nodded. "Clear Number One Surgery for me. I'll scrub up and be right there."

More EMTs rolled in another accident victim. "Same scene, Dr. Cullen," Thom, one of the heavy-coated EMTs told me. "The other guy hit her. She was still in front of his fuh – of his truck when we got there."

"Status?" I requested, crossing to the gurney.

"Isabella Swan, the Police Chief's daughter. Small town. We know her. She's twenty. Was walking to her car from the diner, you know? The driver must've lost it and he nailed her with his truck. Respiration normal for the situation. Heart rate rather elevated. Looks like her shoulder and hip are broken though, doc."

They had cut away her heavy winter clothing to make sure no further trauma was present. I could see bruises already forming in the shape of a hood ornament and a bumper and I froze in sheer fury.

And then I finally noticed it. The scent of her blood.

_Oh, God, help me._ My prayer was sincere. I never noticed the blood anymore. _Why now? Why here? Why?_

When was the last time I had smelled someone so alluring in all the centuries of my existence? This young woman's blood didn't sing to me – the memory of _il mio cantante_ in New York City two hundred years ago, would never leave me – but it came close.

Too close.

_Tempting, yes..._

The young woman blinked, tried to move. Groaned. Swore – mildly, softly – under her breath, and began to struggle against the bars of the wheeled gurney. All my best instincts rose up in me and I restrained her gently. "Isabella Swan, I'm Dr. Cullen. Let's see what we can do for you, shall we?"

"British?" she mumbled, blinked owlishly. "Y'sound like Branagh."

I exchanged a glance with Thom, who lingered to see if he would be needed. "Kenneth Branagh?" I had, oddly enough, heard that before. "Observant girl, isn't she?"

"Very," the young man said with a smile. "She coulda gone Ivy League, but stayed at U Dub to be near Charlie."

Ah, a loving daughter, then. With thick, dark hair, alabaster skin, brown eyes and a sharp ear. "All right, we're going to need to make sure she's stable enough for surgery, so, I'll need to examine her. Thanks Thom. Tell Sarah she did a great job."

"Will do, Dr. Cullen. Give Bella our best."

_Bella. Beautiful Swan. _ I had to smile.

Tempting, yes... But not more than I could bear. "I will."

It didn't happen often over the past few years, but I found myself remembering the scene of Esme's accident as I paused ever-so-briefly before focusing on my patient. I was normally _entirely_ focused in such a circumstance, but something about Isabella Swan reminded me of my lost mate and I felt the pang of that loss still. I always would, I knew. It was the nature of our kind to find one mate in our existence. We were not granted a human's ability to blur memories and feelings over the years, so this loss would always be sharp. But, due to the nature of my mind, I knew that though that pain would be there, it was not the dominant feeling by any means.

I shook off the memory of the charred and twisted metal and the still-fragrant ashes that had found shelter for themselves behind a tire. There was work to do. I pulled the patterned privacy curtain around us and sorted out the extent of my patient's injuries.

\ \ \ \ \/ / / / /

"So, Miss Swan –"

"Bella, Dr. Cullen. Please," she whispered, the morphine's effects evident in her pupils and breathy voice.

"Bella. Your father is on his way. I need to get you into surgery immediately, however, to make sure that we don't lose any bone fragments."

She winced. Grimaced. Nodded. "All right. Need me to sign something?" She smiled crookedly up at me and my dead heart wrenched within my chest. I swear it did. "I'm right-handed, so it should be interesting." Her lips went white for a moment and I gauged that her pain was overcoming the emergency medications that had been administered earlier.

"Of course. I'll have the nurse take care of that immediately – Sally is right here – and then the anesthesiologist will be with you."

A sardonic amusement appeared in her face, despite the pain I knew she had to be feeling. "And I'll try counting to twenty and reach five and pass out and then I'll see you in post-op. I know the drill, Dr. Cullen."

I had seen her hefty file here at the hospital and smiled warmly into her eyes. Her wry humor in these circumstances touched me. "Yes, I imagine you do, Bella. All right. Until post-op." My gloved hand brushed lightly over her uninjured forehead, feathering stray dark strands of hair.

"Bring chocolate?" she asked as I turned.

Surprised – who knew I could be surprised after all these centuries? – I shot a look back to her. "Is that your usual post-op ritual? It's not always advised, you know. You might be on liquids for twenty-four hours."

One defined brow arched high. "Dr. Cullen," she breathed. "A girl always likes chocolate in bed."

Sally laughed out loud, as did I. "I'll, um, take a memo, Miss Swan," I said around my gusts of laughter. "You should come with a warning label."

"Hm?"

"_Dangerous When Medicated_."

I kept the sound of Bella Swan's silly, opium-extracted laughter with me all the way into surgery.

The x-rays gave me some reason to smile as well. "The hip isn't going to be nearly as complex as I feared," I murmured to the lead nurse. "See there, the pelvis isn't even fractured. She took the brunt of the collision on her shoulder."

"She's ready when you are, Dr. Cullen."

I nodded and swept by her to scrub again. "One can't be too careful," I called over my shoulder to the nurses. My skin was virtually sterile, but they certainly didn't know that.

After I closed the final incision and knotted the last suture on her hip, I took a deep and unnecessary breath behind my surgical mask. "Thank you," I told my team as I pulled the mask down and smiled warmly at them all. "We might make it out in time for cafeteria pancakes."

Jenna laughed softly. "Can't wait." She wiggled her eyebrows playfully as she did a final count on the surgical tools of the trade, making very sure everything down to the last clamp was present and accounted for. Of course, I knew I had not left anything behind that should not have been – an advantage of a preternaturally perfect memory – but I could not tell Jenna that.

"All right, let's move her out," I prompted, peeling off my gloves and blood-sprinkled scrubs. "I'll go talk to her family."

"There's only Chief Swan," Jenna said, shaking her short, damp hair out. "So it shouldn't be too hard. He's a tough ol' guy."

"Thanks. And Jenna?"

"Yes, Dr. Cullen?"

I grinned. "Would you or maybe Sally pick up a piece of chocolate – something... I don't know something small but not too sweet – for our patient?"

Jenna's eyes widened with sheer surprise and I had to chuckle. If I could have blushed, I would have as I tried to explain. "Bella Swan and I had a conversation when she was medicated, and it involved chocolate. I just thought if she could see a piece of it when she woke up, it might improve her disposition."

Shaking her head, my chief nurse laughed quietly to herself and turned away with a nod. Under her breath – but of course I could hear her – she murmured, "Well, _that_ betting pool is going down in flames..."

Pushing through the doors on Surgery Two, I crossed the corridor to the waiting room, hiding my own amusement instinctively. I could dwell upon the implications of her remark and my reaction to it later.

The acrid tang of fear in the waiting room never seemed to be completely done away with by awful pine-scented cleansers. The scent served to assist in sobering my demeanor as I went to tell Charlie Swan how things had gone with Bella. It was not going to be an easy conversation.

"Chief Swan, Charlie, we've met before," I began as he rose to greet me with a worried crease in his forehead.

He nodded, a jerky movement of his head. "Yes, we have. Were you working on my daughter?"

I opted to continue in a formal vein to help the man keep his composure. "I was her surgeon, yes. She was hit by a truck, Chief." The man winced. "Her shoulder took the brunt of the impact but we were able to reconstruct it with some permanent pins and screws. Two ribs cracked and serious contusions – bruises – on her legs, but no head trauma. And her blood loss was low, considering. She should do fine. She's in post-op now."

Charlie Swan nodded slowly, his lips thin, eyes narrow. "And the driver of the other vehicle?"

"In with Dr. Gerandy, Chief. He was impaled on his gear shift."

I heard the very soft grunt Bella's father issued. It sounded like the word, "Good." I ignored that.

"I anticipate," I went on, "Isabella being able to go home in a few days. We'll take good care of her here, Charlie," I assured him.

His answering smile almost surprised me. "I know, Dr. Cullen. She should just have this as her alternate address for school, you know." His brown eyes – so like his daughter's – widened in alarm and I stilled instinctively. "School. Damn! Right! What's she going to do about that, Doctor? She's going to be out for a while, isn't she?"

I sighed and threaded one hand through my hair. "She's going to be unable to get around much for a while, Chief. I can, of course, get her a medical release. Perhaps she can take courses online? My sister did that for some of her classes when –" _When my Esme died, when our family was crumpling up into a black hole _– "things were a bit confused in our lives." I offered the man a small, reassuring smile. "Charlie? Isabella _will_ be fine. That's the main thing. The coursework I'm sure she can make up. What's she studying?"

He gave a short, wry laugh. "Would you believe pre-med? She said she felt that she's taken so much from the medical community that she oughta give something back."

I grinned. "I've seen her records and can completely understand that. Maybe I can be of some help, then." It had been a decade or so since my last formal experience of medical education, but I knew enough to help a pre-med major.

Relief apparently added volubility to his personality. "You know, when she was a kid, she hated blood. She'd turn a little green if she skinned her knee or when I pricked my finger with a lure. But not anymore. Good thing too, eh?"

"A good thing indeed! All right, Chief. I'm going to go check her vitals. Someone will let you know when she's awake."

"Thanks, Doctor," the Chief of Police said, the traces of humor erased from his voice as he looked past my shoulder into some indeterminate place. "She's my world. I don't know what I'd do without her."

Esme's face ghosted through my infallible memory and I sighed inwardly at the wrench it gave me. "I know exactly what you mean."


	2. Isabella

**A/N: Thanks so much for joining us! This is a six-chapter-plus-short-epilogue story, just so you know, and we'll breeze through it fairly quickly. I hope you enjoy! My gratitude extended to u2shay for her beta mojo and to Bells, duskwatcher, katmom and valelf for supporting the fight against pediatric cancers at the FGB Auction! You ladies are awesome!**

**Let's rejoin Bella, in the hospital, where she finds chocolate...in bed. ;-)**

* * *

_**Chapter Two: ...Isabella.**_

_**Bella POV**_

I woke up with my brain feeling as if it were encased in bubble wrap and sent out of state for the duration. Except, of course, that I was entirely intact. I just _felt_ disconnected, thanks to the medications.

My mouth was cotton-dry. I hated surgery. Rolling my head ever so slowly, I realized that my body had been braced. Great. I had a monster cast and my arm was stuck out at this weird, don't-come-near-or-you'll-be-impaled angle. I groaned and rolled my head even more slowly in the other direction. Surely someone was there who would hear me and could get me something to drink.

Then I saw it. A long, dark rectangle on the steel bedside tray. I blinked, trying to bring my eyes to focus on it. _I really hate waking up from surgery_, I mused with a slight growl. _But this makes it so much better! Hershey's Special Dark_.

I was initially puzzled. Then I blushed, remembering the wispy edges of that final conversation with my doctor. He was new to the Emergency Room, as far as I could tell. He was British, too. And he was completely gorgeous in a "you'll notice it even on pain meds" kind of way. What had I said, while high on whatever it was they had given me? Something about girls liking chocolate _in bed_?

My face burned again as I stared, fixated, at the chocolate bar.

"Why don't we start you off with some water instead of chocolate, all right?"

It was him! With those British vowels and a turn to his voice that reminded me of Kenneth Branagh! Nervous, embarrassed but also intensely curious, I bit my lip and darted a quick look at Dr. Cullen through my lashes. Was he laughing at me?

No, but a smile was playing at the corner of his lips. I felt one on my own, as well.

"Thanks, Dr. Cullen. I'd appreciate it. And, um, thanks for the chocolate." As soon as one flush of color washed away, another bloomed to take its place. It was mortifying. "It's my second-best favorite," I told him, trying not to drop my eyes.

Why was I so nervous? Post-op medication? Because he was new? Because he had that whisper of an accent that drove me crazy trying to hear it in every word? Or was it the piercing hue of his eyes? _Down, girl. He's your doctor. And you do not want to embarrass yourself further!_

The lights from overhead seemed to sink into his rich brown hair and pale skin. The poor guy probably never saw the sunlight, with as hard as some doctors worked. He looked pretty young, too, so maybe he was just out of residency and had been putting in twenty-hour days for two years or so. I had heard horror stories in my pre-med classes at college about being a resident! I could hear the soft, firm voices of the nursing staff as Dr. Cullen reviewed my chart. I had the impression, though, that he was doing it for show. As if he had already reviewed it and was only doing it now for appearance's sake.

Either that, or he was capable of watching the color fluctuation in my cheeks while studying my fluid levels. How embarrassing!

"Only second-best?" His voice danced. "I'll keep that in mind. Miss Swan," he began with a tone that shifted to a more professionally detached one. "So. Good morning. You've come through the night well enough. I imagine you have some questions?"

"It's _Bella_, and may I please have some water?"

Straight brows flew into his forehead. "Pardon me. Of course." He stepped smoothly to the dull gold plastic pitcher on the steel wheeled tray and poured water into a matching cup with a flexible straw. "Let me get it for you," he offered.

I lifted my chin. "I can hold it."

"Not with the IV drip, Bella."

I grimaced, felt like arguing, but felt the heat rise once more to my cheeks as I accepted his help with the water. It was not quite at room temperature, being a bit cooler than that, and soothed my dry throat and cotton-tongue enough for comfort. I felt really uncoordinated – not that that's a new sensation – as I released the straw and he removed the cup.

He smiled into my eyes again. "Better?"

"Yes, Doctor."

He nodded. "Good. So, Bella, _do_ you have questions?" His expression told me he expected them. I tried to swallow back my nerves until he smiled at me. His eyes twinkled as he added, "Your father says you're pre-med, so I expect a thorough interrogation."

The heat under my skin was in no way attributable to any post-op infection! Had to be the accent. Had to be. "Uh..." I rasped, my dry mouth working furiously. Dr. Cullen's brow lifted and he appeared as if his mind had temporarily gone wandering. Latex-covered hands held the plastic cup with the bendable straw to my lips and my blush renewed itself with each flickering glance at Dr. Cullen's humor-filled gaze. "I'm going to live, I take it?"

He laughed a little and settled himself gingerly on the edge of the bed near my feet. "Yes."

The memory of the accident flew behind my eyes and I held my breath when I asked my next question. "And the other guy?"

Dr. Cullen's pale face was smooth and I noted that his bedside – on-the-bed – manner was exemplary. "The driver, John Taylor, impaled himself on his gearshift."

"No..." I breathed. I felt my stomach freeze and my fingers go numb. "When he hit me? I made him do that?" I felt just sick, really. Like I wanted to throw up. I glanced with a sense of betrayal at the Special Dark bar. How could I possibly enjoy something like that when a man had been impaled?

A cool hand brushed my leg through the stiff bed linen. "Bella. Breathe, Bella." I dragged my focus out of my imagination to settle on the movie-star attractiveness of the doctor. _My doctor._ Blood rushed to my face again and I grimaced. This was not good. I was all over the place. "I think – I think –" I began.

He held up a hand and rose smoothly to his feet. "I understand. In brief, then. Mr. Taylor was treated by Dr. Gerandy. You know him, right?" I nodded. "Right, then. He'll be fine. But hear me, Miss Swan," he went on, angling a sharp brow into his unlined forehead. "This is in no way your fault, unless walking across the street at a marked crosswalk is a guilty act. Understand? The sad truth of the matter is that Mr. Taylor was drunk and shouldn't have even looked at a car much less put himself behind the wheel of one – especially not on a dark night when black ice is all over the roads up here."

I felt my mouth open and close, but no words came. I could see what happened as the doctor told me. It had been so cold outside. I was crossing to the diner to get something to take home to Charlie for dessert and then there were two widely-spaced lights off to my right. I didn't worry; there was a stop sign and I was in the crosswalk. But then the lights didn't jerk to a stop across the narrow intersection. The truck was suddenly squealing and I freaked out and froze in the street. A monster grill framed by those terrifying circles of light got too close and then, finally, I moved but only because the truck hit me. Hard. And I screamed and couldn't get up and it was so cold...! "Where's my coat?"

"Your father has it. Or rather, what's left of it. We had to cut if off of you. Another casualty of the ER, I'm afraid. The Chief fell asleep in the waiting room. Shall I get him for you?"

"Please, but first..." Dr. Cullen lightly grasped my IV-bound hand and placed it gently on my leg before stepping half a step farther from me. "Um. So, am I stuck with this K'nex set on my shoulder? I mean, what about school and everything? I can't drive like this!" My breath accelerated and I felt my extremities going numb again. Damn! I hated this!

"Isabella. Isabella Swan." He was suddenly right next to me. A breath passed over my skin, on my cheek.

_Sweet_. The sweetest scent in the world crept in under my panic and laced through it between one rapid beat of my heart and the next. I blinked and tried to swallow, but my tongue was dry again. So I just tried to focus. Focus on the scents of cinnamon, cardamom and cedar... Fresh but feeling as if they were from a history book.

"Breathe, Isabella. Bella. Breathe. Relax. It's all going to be fine."

My head cleared and I was staring right into Dr. Cullen's golden eyes. Molten metal, hot and pure, his look was no longer that of a detached, amused professional. He seemed to be urgently as focused on me as I was on – on his scent...? "Sorry, doctor."

A puff of that same sweet scent met my nose again and I sighed a little as Dr. Cullen moved back once more. "Not a problem, Bella. It's to be expected. And, in answer to at least one of your concerns, I was discussing the academic situation with your father, earlier. I may be able to be of some help, if you wish."

Embarrassed to have been the topic of conversation, I winced. "Please, not some tutor or something?"

"Not even if it's me?" he whispered, a twinkle in those golden eyes of his.

Predictably, I blushed like a teenager – which I hadn't been for months! – and looked anywhere but at him. "Is that even legal?" I whispered back.

His grin was contagious. "Certainly. I am quite capable of compartmentalizing my thinking, Miss Swan. Now, I'll get your father. You will be in the hospital for a few days, so I am sure you'll want to work something out with him about, ah, ways to amuse yourself while you're here."

I groaned. "Great. Yes, thank you, doctor. For everything."

As he stepped almost silently from my recovery room, I was left wondering many things. How I was going to finish my term if I were unable to go to class or even type credibly. How I was going to go to the bathroom. How I was going to pay for an extra term at college if I had to bail out of this one. The list of problems seemed endless. Strangely though, they all sort of distanced themselves most definitively from the brown-haired, golden-eyed man who had had _his hands_ inside _my personal body_ as he put me back together.

I was really glad I didn't think of _that_ while he was in the same room with me. I would have melted clean away.

* * *

**Carlisle POV**

Part of that highly compartmentalized brain – I had been flaunting my talents in front of a human! What was coming over me? – was only surprised that the phone call was delayed until I was on the road home that morning. Dawn's light was failing miserably at making a place for itself in the cloud cover over Forks when my cell phone vibrated.

"Carlisle! She's beautiful. We all think so. Even with her arm stuck out like Jack Ryan's was in that book _Patriot Games_. Jasper says that'd be really awkward but –"

I had to laugh as I slowed down to navigate the final turn before reaching the long, winding drive to the house. "It is very awkward, yes. But I'm sure she'll do fine, Alice."

"Oh, but she won't. Did you know her house only has a bathroom on the second floor? Carlisle, she'll never navigate it. I saw her. It's not pretty." I winced, imagining the catastrophe. "And she'll need a nurse at home, too. I'd ask Rose, but she is – well, I just won't. Trust me. And then –"

I felt myself frowning as I slid out from behind the wheel of my Mercedes. "Is everything all right with Rosalie? Emmett? Anyone...slip?" Much as I did my best to put past indiscretions behind me in my memory, I knew which members of my family were more likely to, as humans said, "fall off the wagon" when it came to our animal-blood diet.

Alice's sigh reached me through the tiny speaker of my phone. "No. It's just that – do you really want to know?"

"Yes! I've been apart from you for months and I feel out of touch. Have I missed something?" The possibility was always there. I was not gifted as Edward, Alice and Jasper were – a fact I never regretted – but a way to know for certain how affairs rested with my family would have been nice, on occasion. I unknotted my tie, leaving it hanging about my neck, and unbuttoned my shirt as I ran at my own speed up the stairs.

"Oh, Carlisle. I've seen you... So happy. You're smiling. You're laughing. Edward is actually pleased, to be honest. You know how he is; he wants you to have a good headspace. And Jasper can't wait to finish up our current term so he can come out and just...bask, you know?"

I felt a smile tugging at my lips as I slid my shoes off and tucked them into the closet. "And why is this?"

"Her! The girl in the hospital? The one with the arm!"

"Isabella..."

"Her! Yes! So we're looking forward to meeting her."

"Except for Rosalie," I reminded her, bringing her busy brain back to where I wanted it.

Another sigh, followed by an impatient sound. "Rosalie is just very protective of the family, Carlisle. You know that. And Isabella is a human... And we know that you've been lonely..."

I pulled the phone from my ear and looked at it, exasperated. "Is she there?"

"Rose!"

"Fine. I'll talk to him." Rosalie's distinctive, sharp alto reached me easily. "Carlisle. What are you doing?"

"I'm wondering what's wrong," I told her, my voice calming as I sat on the edge of the bed. I had purchased it because having one was habit. And, of course, it helped to maintain the façade if I ever had anyone over. A brief image of Isabella Swan against the pillows flashed in my mind, but I banished it as ridiculous. What was Alice seeing? What decisions was I making? Well, there had been the offer of tutoring Bella. Was that what this was about?

"You making cow eyes at a human, that's what's wrong. You know we can't do that. What's the matter with you? I know you've been...lonely...but damn, _brother_. You have got to be careful. We're not there and –"

My irritation rarely surfaced, but with each word Rose said I felt a tension coiling under my skin. It snaked along my jaw, my arms, my back and indeed my entire torso. "Enough!" I snapped at her, releasing some of that strange, instant, rigid pressure. "Rosalie Hale. I have been one of our kind for centuries. I believe I am fully capable of keeping our secret under any circumstance."

Silence held across the distance between us for a moment. "But Alice said she saw you happy..."

Odd, but sorrow was not my first reaction. Instead, I felt an increase of an entirely different tension. "Would you begrudge me that, Rose? I lost my mate, but there is still much worth living for in the world, isn't there?" No response. Then, I told her who Isabella Swan was. "Isabella is a patient, Rose. She is a pre-med student at the University of Washington and I made an arrangement with her father to tutor her through the rest of this term, since she will be unable to attend classes. If Alice has had visions of me laughing or smiling in Isabella's company, I am thankful. It's lonely out here without the rest of you, and I would think you'd be relieved I could even find a smile after these past years."

I heard that strange catching of breath that indicated a vampire was trying to weep. We couldn't – another curse upon our species – but we did need to, sometimes. "I'm sorry. I'll – I hope you're still smiling when we reunite this summer, Carlisle."

"I love you, you know. All of you. I'd never act against our family's best interest."

"I know," she whispered.

* * *

**In the next chapter, Bella finds out that vampires...sparkle.**


	3. And So We Begin

**A/N: Thank you so much for joining me in this little auction offering! Thanks, always, to Team LJ4CB (not their real name, lol) for their support in the fight against pediatric cancers. I am happy to be able to have tempted your wallets. Thanks too to everyone who's been sharing this story. Always good to see new faces. Back to Carlisle and Bella as they get to know one another.**

* * *

_**Chapter Three: And So We Begin**_

**Carlisle POV**

The following days were spent, for me, in a state of suspended wonder. It was a curious state of being to be sure, but having Alice give me a heads-up on possible future scenarios made for an interesting perspective.

"Isabella." I did, of course, check on her the day after her accident. I had arranged for her to be in a room for our longer-term care patients. These rooms were provided with Internet access and other living arrangements. "I wondered if you could see your way clear to giving me your scholastic information, so that I might get in touch with your professors?"

Her scent had hit me powerfully as I spoke. I had to breathe – she was watching me with a disarming intensity – so I had to continue to take in her scent. It was so powerful, even with the medications and the general quasi-sterile environment in this room. She didn't respond immediately to my request, but I couldn't seem to tear my eyes from her face, where the blood rushed beguilingly under her translucent skin. She moistened her lips. I noticed that they were chapped and made a note to myself to get her something for that. One of the nurses would know what was appropriate.

No. That would cause gossip. I had heard the whispering about the chocolate bar already! I'd find out and just slip some remedy onto Bella's tray without saying anything.

"Sure, Dr. Cullen. I can do that. But really, I should probably do it myself."

I eyed her braced arm. "How?"

She cocked her head to the side, winced, and shifted a slightly scratched and dented aluminum MacBook laptop computer. "I can type one-handed. It just takes a little adjusting."

I fought against a smile while simultaneously recalling every detail of Alice's phone call and reminding myself that encouraging Bella's independence was a good thing. "I see that. So why don't you work on that adjusting and I'll come back when I've finished my rounds, shall I?"

"Thanks, Doctor!" She rolled her eyes at me and I had to grin again. There was something so engaging in her manner that I could not take offense, even if she were endeavoring to offend me.

The combined scents of her blood and body, though pervasive, were easily managed. So much so, in fact, that I missed them when I was gone from her room and on my rounds. That strange sense of wonder seemed to waft about me even more than the scents of the hospital and the aromas of blood and the subtle body fragrances of my co-workers. I also wondered why it was that it seemed that there was such a thing as an almost-singer for one of our kind. Someone whose blood was _almost_ devastating. _Almost_ perilous. Almost – but not quite. After that initial introduction to her scent, I never _truly_ craved Isabella's blood. It didn't make me _thirsty_, exactly. Just very aware of her.

Not an unwelcome sensation certainly, but one I had never encountered in my three hundred and seventy years upon the Earth.

Once Isabella had been released and was settled in at home, my wonder had become part of my existence with her, so I didn't notice it as much.

The first day I was scheduled to tutor her officially was a Thursday. The weather was predicted to be overcast and rainy, as befit a regular early spring day here in Forks. "Dr. Cullen," Chief Swan said in greeting, opening the front door for me. He looked past me to where my Mercedes was parked. "Nice ride, doc," he drawled.

"Please, Chief. I'm here to tutor your daughter. Call me Carlisle." I stepped inside at his unspoken invitation, inhaling to parse out the scents of this home. I would be spending quite a bit of time here over the next few weeks – especially if Alice's visions were anything to go by – and I wanted to be comfortable. The laundry and leather scents of Charlie Swan were pervasive, overlaid delicately by the floral notes of lilac and freesia. No cigarette smoke, but the local beer seemed to have been imbibed in every room on this floor. The furniture was older, worn and a layer of dust seemed to be settling. Not too much – I imagined that Isabella was unable to keep things tidy for her father since her accident and he was not overfond of dusting. Pictures of the two of them were on the walls; I caught the details with a quick glance over them as Charlie closed the door behind me. Fishing gear, an obviously bored child missing front teeth. An older girl with her father, both of them looking uncomfortable at an event that necessitated a dress for her and a tie for him.

I could only imagine.

"Dad?"

"Bells! Dr. Cullen – er, Carlisle – is here."

I heard the sudden increase in Bella's heartbeat and suppressed a smile. I shouldn't have been so pleased to have an obvious effect upon a patient but – as I had indicated to her from the first – I felt entirely comfortable in compartmentalizing my mind. The young woman upstairs was, I had come to admit to myself, attractive. Appealing. She was intelligent, stubborn, droll and beautiful all at once. She did make me laugh as Alice had seen. Thankfully, Alice was letting things take their course at this point with Bella and me. We visited, but without a plethora of visions taking up our conversational moments. Rose avoided even the idea of Bella. Edward was pleased that I sounded peaceful and content.

Right now, I _felt_ peaceful and content.

"Dr. Cullen! Um, yeah. All set up here if you – ah – if you want to come up?"

I smiled, nodded at the empty stairwell and turned my attention briefly to Charlie. "May I?"

He breathed out a sigh sodden with resignation, hope and a bit of uncertainty. With a twitch of his shoulder, he nodded. "Go on. I'll be down here. Mariners are playing tonight."

"Thanks."

I took the stairs two at a time – a completely normal, human action for healthy males in their twenties – and was on the top landing in just a few of her heartbeats. "Bella?" I knew where she was, of course. Her scent came from the room off to the left, curling through the door and caressing my skin like the most transparent silken scarf.

"I'm here!" I heard the sound of a small hand slapping a mattress. As if I needed the extra auditory clue. "All set and scholarly and everything." Upon seeing me, she smiled with her entire face, before blinking and blushing and sending her gaze on a journey about the room. "So, um, thanks for coming out, Doctor. I know you said it's not a big deal, but I really do feel like it is, so if there is any way – unlikely as it might be – to pay you back or something, let me know, all right?"

"All right." I couldn't think of a thing, but then we were just getting to know one another. "So, any questions before we begin? Do you need anything?"

She settled back against the low-rise headboard of her narrow bed and seemed to regard me with a heavy texture to her thoughts. "Nope. I'm good. Um. Well, yeah. Okay." She blushed and caught her lower lip in her often-used indicator of unease. "Can I ask you a personal question? I am really good with reciprocity and all, honest."

Concern tussled briefly with curiosity. What did Bella wish to know of a personal nature about me? "Of course. May I sit?" I asked, indicating the chair on the other side of her room.

"Sure! Sorry!"

As I moved the chipped yellow rocking chair to the side of her bed between her and the door, I heard Bella's heart pick up in its pacing again. A charming sound, really. I was used to listening for patient distress via their pulse rates, but having an "in" into the emotions of one particular young woman was fascinating. I wondered if Edward ever felt this kind of excitement when he was in the mind of someone else.

As I settled, Bella cleared her throat. "So. How old are you? I mean, I know there are a lot of years ahead of me to get my MD and all. Four years for the B.S., then four of med school, then interning and residency for about three or so, right? So, if you just got here and just got out of medical school," she went on, her lips pursing as she studied me closely, "You'd have to be twenty-nine or thirty at the youngest. My advisor told me that some surgical specialities take longer, so I'm thinking maybe thirty-one?" Her lids lowered a little and I wondered if she was aware of how seductive that expression was, awkward medical situation and all. "Thing is, doctor Cullen, you must have amazing genes and I'm thinking that you should have your chromosomes looked at. I heard Vanderbilt has a program..." Her smile almost undid me in its combination of light flirtation and playful intelligence.

My smile was not careful in any way until I noticed that it had the usual vampiric effect on Bella, causing her eyes to dilate and her breath to catch. I made an effort not to be so transparent in my appreciation of her, though I could feel my muscles reacting involuntarily to the temptation she was again providing me. "I, uh, have good genes," I said, incorporating a very human hesitation into my answer. I ran a hand through my newly-brown hair in the way I had seen Edward do for decades when he was uncomfortable. "And, well, I was one of those annoying boys in school. The kind that graduated early?" I ended with a question in my voice to see if she were following me and to gauge her reaction to that much of a feigned confession. "So, I'm not thirty-one. I'm twenty-eight."

Her deep brown eyes widened. "Wow! That's awesome that you were able to accelerate your studies! Your family must be so proud of you."

I sighed, thinking of several comments that had come my way over the past week from my family. "They are, yes. My family is going to be joining me this summer, by the way. I, ah, hope you'll be able to meet them. If you're in town?"

Color flooded her face. "I'll be here, yes. By family, do you mean, like, mom and dad or a wife and kids?" Her uninjured hand picked at the comforter on her bed. The comforter was a fairly new addition, I could sense in the still-deep colors of the earth-toned fabric. Her eyes flashed with discomfort. "I'm really not trying to be nosey, Dr. Cullen."

"Please, as I told your father, I'm here as your tutor, not your physician. My name is Carlisle. And to answer you, my family in this case means my sister and brothers and a sister and brother-in-law. My wife," I said with a natural and real hesitation, "my wife was killed in a car accident a little more than three years ago."

As anticipated, her mouth opened and the inevitable, "Oh, I'm so sorry," came out of it. I tried to wave it off – I had heard the expression far too often for it to really touch me, and then too this was Isabella who was saying it – but she persevered. "I know it's not even close to the same, but I know how it feels to lose someone important. I know that – that losing a wife is not even the same as losing a mom, but I – I just wanted to tell you that if you need to talk about it, I can listen, okay?"

I was touched by her willingness to listen to me and resolved to tell her about Esme soon. It was strange how quickly a young human woman could get under my marble skin, but she was doing it and it made sense that she might want to know what had happened to my wife.

"Another time, after we get actual studying accomplished, eh?" She nodded, her lips curled in the smallest of accepting smiles. "All right, then. Which class are we working on first, today?"

"Bio-chem. I'm supposed to read the chapters I missed," she told me using a deft motion of her free hand to tilt the laptop computer so that I could see the screen. "And produce an outline of the text for my participation grade in lab."

"Fair enough. I'll type, you tell me what you read."

And so we began.

* * *

**Bella POV**

"Check it out! I'm on probation!" I called when Carlisle pulled up on our scheduled tutoring day. He unfolded himself from the gleaming charcoal Mercedes sedan – I wondered if his family used it as well when they were all together – and grinned to see me standing on the front porch. "I haven't even knocked anything over, yet." He was gorgeous as always, coming over after an early morning shift that ended this afternoon. He wore a gray shirt with pinpoint white stripes and a pair of charcoal trousers. He was even wearing _suspenders_ and the look made my insides quiver. Was it just that I thought maybe he was forbidden? I didn't think so. He had made his positions very clear. He was a doctor at the hospital but he was a man in his late twenties when he was in my house and in my bedroom. Making me all hot and bothered with his heated looks and incredible _presence_. It really wasn't fair. It was like he was able to suck the air out of a room by walking in it, but not in a bad way. Just in a way that made me breathless.

He looked like a model and his laugh was musical. "Well that's good. I'd hate to see your father patch another wall." I would have laughed but I saw the melancholy that tightened his eyes at the corners and I decided that I'd ask him again, today. "You look lovely, by the way."

"Oh, sunshine! Come on! I'm walking and not hitting anything, and I went and got all comfortable to get some sun, Carlisle. Walk with me?" I normally didn't wear sundresses, but honestly it was easier to go to the bathroom in a dress that I could hike up with one hand than it was to wear shorts or jeans or anything with a button that required me to push down and bend over to pull back up...! Not having to fight with sleeves was a big plus, too. The whole spaghetti strap thing was also an unexpected boon, as it made putting on a bra moot. Not even a strapless. I felt unexpectedly powerful and feminine as I felt "my tutor's" eyes brush over my dress. I smiled bravely and took a tentative step as the first sunbeam broke through to kiss the walkway.

In a flash – a literal _flash_, with something sparkling following, like a comet's trail – he was beside me, lips pressed tightly together, studying my face with eyes as dark as any time I'd seen them. They had a tendency to darken in a cyclical pattern over the weeks we had spent together and I wanted to ask about that. As well as what circulation problem he had that made his hands so cold and did he advocate the use of tooth whiteners or did he have his dentist do them? And could I get my teeth that white? But all of those questions disappeared with that shiny, diamond-bright flash.

A flash I could have sworn bounced off the curve of his ear and the back of his hand as he seemed to sprint out of the sunbeam I had so looked forward to enjoying. I froze, not knowing what to think.

So I asked. "Carlisle...? What the hell was that?" I whispered, gripping the porch railing with my left hand.

His expression shifted as the clouds parted behind him, bringing more spring sunshine to the front yard of the house. He seemed to make some sort of decision in the blinking of my eye. He was standing in front of me, one arm around me to press coolly at the small of my back while his other hand hesitated only a heartbeat before taking my left hand from the railing.

We could have been waltzing.

Sweet breath, the scents of cinnamon and cardamom – Had I blended them together in the kitchen that morning, just to see if I was right? Oh yes, I had! – floated over my head, seeming to settle into my hair and paint my skin with their fragrance. Carlisle's own scent, his breath, was cool and beckoning and I could feel myself sway subtly into his body. He kept my gaze with his own when my eyes would have fluttered shut in invitation.

"Isabella."

I made my eyelids close. I had questions, damn it, and I wanted answers. "Carlisle," I murmured, too aware that he had pulled me against himself and that he was cool under the suspenders and dress shirt. I noticed something else too that made me freeze. My eyes flew open. "Heartbeat."

He was gone from me in my next breath, having flashed to the opposite side of the porch, flattened against the white wall of the house with only a cinnamon-scented trail between me and him. "Bella!" he gasped.

If he had appeared angry, I would have understood. Surprised. Annoyed. The terror that lit his eyes, though, surprised and worried _me_. "Carlisle?" I hesitated only a moment before making my awkward way to his side of the porch. For a moment I felt like a stalking tiger and the image made me smile. But only for a moment. I couldn't be amused when this man was so obviously frightened for some reason. "What is it? Why are you so scared?"

A quick breath sounded loud all of a sudden. "Bella. I can't – You can't know. It's dangerous."

My heart sped within me, but I ignored it. "I'm not afraid, you know. I know you're not precisely normal. Come on," I said, trying to tease him into relaxing just a little. "You smell better than my favorite dessert, your eyes go from molten gold to dark brown every seven days or so, you have passed your cold fingers off as a circulation problem – no _heartbeat_ does constitute that and I don't even need med school to figure that out," I added with a wry smile that I thought was genuine. "You're pale, won't ever consider staying over for dinner and," I added, pausing while I watched him seem to get even more frightened, "you shine like quartz in the desert when the sun hits you. Unless you've got some super-jazzy sunblock you're testing, I'm guessing it's your skin."

"God, help me. I'm so sorry," he blurted. "I should go. I can't tell you, Bella."

Something in me rose in protest and I blocked his path with the unwieldy contraption on my right shoulder. Who knew an attached K'nex set could come in handy? "You have to, Doctor Cullen, or I'll be compelled to find out on my own. In my current state, this is dangerous. Hippocratic Oath, right? Above all, do no harm?" Where did I get this bravado? I stood right there in front of his incredible man of undetermined...origin...and had no intention of letting him go.

Period. I was halfway to "besotted" and was already wondering if the whole trip would be worth it. I had been thinking it might be, until today.

"Isabella. I never meant for this to happen." His words were a cliché out of any romance novel maybe, but the sincerity was entirely his own. "All right. Inside. And I'll tell you everything."


	4. Everything

**A/N: With thanks again to Bells, duskwatcher, katmom and valelf for their auction bid! Thanks too to everyone who is reading and sharing and reviewing this story! I have so enjoyed creating it.**

**We left Bella and Carlisle on her porch…just after she found out he sparkled.**

**

* * *

**

_**Chapter Four: "Everything"**_

**Bella POV**

"I never meant to tell you," Carlisle murmured, pacing awkwardly in front of the flat screen.

"I'm not a dentist," I muttered, trying and failing to get even marginally comfortable on the broken-down sofa. I was too short to rest my support-cast on the back of the cushions and too tall to rest it on the arm. Seeing my difficulty, Carlisle swept in and – with speed I had only been introduced to that afternoon – stacked pillows up on the arm to make me more comfortable. I caught at him with my free hand, managing to hook a finger in his suspenders. I felt my insides quicken when he noticed and flashed a glance at me with eyes that were suddenly black. Black and dangerous and somehow _hungry_.

"Dentist. What do you mean?" His words had a flailing feel to them. As if he were trying to distract himself by any means necessary.

"Getting you to tell me is like pulling teeth," I elaborated. "And I'm not a dentist...?" I left that dangling, hoping to make him smile. No one was as beautiful as Carlisle when he smiled at me.

"No, you're not. You're studying to be a doctor and you've got the tenacious mind and determination required to succeed." Rather than retreat to the television set, he tilted my head gently. His eyes were no longer black, but a dark golden amber. "All right." He folded himself to sit at my knees, on the floor with his legs crossed in front of him as if he were a child in a library story-hour. My fingers itched to pass through his hair, but I didn't let them. "I am not precisely human, Bella. Not anymore."

My heart double-thumped. _Not. Precisely. Human. _ _Okay... _ "But you were."

A nod. "I was. That changed for me utterly against my will, but I have tried to do my best with the – the gifts I was given."

"So, you've got super powers?" I was whispering, though we were alone in the house and would be until Charlie got back from the station in an hour. "Or something?"

"Or something," he murmured with a wry cast to his expression as he looked up at me. "Knowing what I am is against the law for humans, Bella. That's why I was – am – frightened. Not on my behalf, but yours. I – I don't want you to be...to be hurt in any way. To suffer any consequences from knowing me."

Too late. I was already "suffering consequences." "Please?"

"I – I'm a –." I had never until that afternoon seen Dr. Cullen lose his composure, but he did then. He growled and tugged angrily at his hair and hit his head on his knees. I could hear a muted thudding of what sounded like rock on rock even as his unique sweet-spicy aroma danced around me with his near-violent motion. "Vampire," he told his knees.

Disbelief never occurred to me, even though he didn't come complete with fangs and a black cloak and coffin. "Vampire."

After his banging and tugging, his sudden stillness was unsettling. "Vampire. I drink blood."

A horrible thought slid like slime through my brain. "Is that why – is that why you're...?" I couldn't say it.

He knew anyway and jerked so that he was looking at me and covering my hand with his. "No. Not at all. To be honest, Isabella, yours is the only blood I've ever even noticed in hundreds of years."

Hundreds. He said _hundreds_ of years. My mouth felt dry with shock and I needed a drink. Not a beer, but a Cherry Coke would be great. Sugar. Yes. "So you're a doctor. And a vampire. And your family...?"

"All of us."

I had to ask, since his voice sounded tortured. His eyes seemed to _beg_ me to ask him to clarify. "Was your wife a – a vampire, too?" He'd said she had died in an auto accident, but what had happened? Was that true or a lie or...?

His eyes closed in obvious pain. "Esme. I – I met her and, and fell in love with her while she was still human, Bella. She was my mate. I changed her when she was on the brink of death."

"The accident?"

"No. Back in the 1920's. The accident... Took place on a foggy morning in Tennessee. There aren't too many ways for us to cease to exist," he went on, his voice becoming clinical. I guessed he was hurting and was distancing himself from his pain. I didn't blame him; I had tended to think of my mother's cancer in that way. "One way is to...burn." His voice dropped to the barest audible brushing of sound on my ear. "There was a heavy fog and the mountain road was narrow. Esme was on her way to a client's house and promised to be safe, since Alice told her there'd be fog. A gasoline tanker was coming up the other side of the mountain. Alice had not foreseen an accident and none of us were worried at all until Alice started shrieking at the top of her voice. Glass shattered from the sound and I knew...I knew..."

He was quiet and I shifted to touch him. I had to. Vampire or no, he was – he was Carlisle. And he was remembering what was possibly the hardest day of his life and so of course I squeezed his hand and then bent over to press my cheek to his hair. "I'm sorry." Then, I asked, "Alice? Is she...one of you? A vampire?" I could get that word out. Sure I could.

"Yes."

"And she foretells things? Like a, a seer?"

"Yes, based upon what people have decided to do. What she didn't see until the very last moment was that the trucker's daughter – a girl of about five – decided suddenly to call her father because she didn't want to eat her breakfast. Alice saw it – all of it. How the driver, hearing his daughter's ringtone, answered even though he was going through a fog bank. How he got distracted and how –"

"Oh, Carlisle," I whispered, my cheek still on his hair. I was awkwardly positioned, but it didn't matter. "I am sorry. Truly."

"The tanker exploded with the force and friction of the collision and Esme...my indestructible wife...was lost in the fire." His voice all but vanished into a misty whisper. "Based upon the...the ashes...we think she was decapitated first."

I didn't have any words for him, so I just pressed a light kiss to his head and pushed my unbalanced way back up to rest my shoulder-construction on the pillows Carlisle had arranged for me.

* * *

**Carlisle POV**

Her silence was a blessing to me, as my brain was processing things at twice the usual speed. How to reconcile the upwelling of emotion that had come close to pouring out this afternoon with my ever-present mourning? I was not being unfaithful to Esme. I never thought that. I just wondered if I would be being fair to myself and to Isabella Swan if I allowed anything to surface from my depths. It was a near-relentless tug-of-war in my spirit.

A struggle that all but ceased when I felt her lips press gently to my hair. It was as if my mind flew through places it would have gone in a less expeditious manner under other circumstances. Her silence allowed this; her willingness to wait for me.

Indescribably valuable.

"I said I'd tell you everything." The heat of her hand was still wrapped about with the chill of my own but she hadn't said anything. She was extraordinary. Her heart was not beating with a fearful cadence. She was a woman at peace. Expectant, but calm too. I inhaled and looked her in the eyes again; their brown depths welcomed my return. "Alice, as you said, is our seer. She has limited sight into the future. She is mated to Jasper, an empath. For the purposes of our stay here in Forks, Jasper is my brother and Alice is my sister-in-law – if, indeed, you think that would be advisable at this juncture."

Bella cocked her head. "Alice and Jasper. How are they related to you?"

I had to chuckle. "We live very differently from most of our kind." At her prompting look, I continued. "None of my family is related to me in any biologically human way. We do not have the same genes. Alice and Jasper were created by different people, decades apart, and found each other before they found us. Alice had been looking for us, you see." I proceeded to tell Isabella the family stories. Edward's creation, Rosalie's desperate rescue, Emmett's transformation...and Esme's. I didn't have to move or fidget to get comfortable, but I found myself leaning into Bella's bare legs, feeling the heat of her precious humanity seep into my body. It was a reminder I needed apparently, as my imagination kept wandering, wondering if someday, Bella's story would be added to ours...

"And you? I've heard of everyone but you," she said eventually. Her voice was playful. "Like I said, I'm not a dentist and pulling indestructible vampire teeth isn't my thing."

I moved away from her and rose to my feet, keeping her hand in mine because it felt – well, it felt like the right place for it. "I'm afraid you'll be...dismayed, Bella."

The weight of her body was temporarily entirely in my hand as she pulled herself up to stand in front of me. So closely that I could feel, once again, the heat of her. It was welcome. It was...more welcome than I was entirely comfortable with, but I couldn't seem to move either. After she steadied herself, she said, "Dismayed? I don't think so. It's not as if I'm unprepared, is it? What I already know about you hasn't _dismayed_ me. I mean, you're not going to sprout wings or turn into a bat, are you?"

I laughed lightly. "No. No wings, bat or otherwise." She amazed me. "So, you're not uncomfortable with...all of this?"

She moved her head slowly from side to side, looking up at me through the partial shielding of her lashes. "No. You've always only inspired...trust, Carlisle. Ever since I first heard your voice."

In spite of my concerns over this, I had to smile and draw her that scant inch closer. I couldn't seem to help myself, nor did I wish to. "_Your_ voice caught _my_ attention, too. Or maybe it was the request for chocolate in bed," I teased. My voice roughened a little, but I didn't think she'd mind. No, I could feel her favorable response as she pressed herself more tangibly against me. "Bella..." _Careful_, I wanted to tell her. _Run_.

_Stay_. I think that's the message that she saw in my eyes, where honesty was all I could give her. The message that parted her lips.

_Yes_. That's the message I saw in her heated look. The one that lowered my head.

Time is relatively meaningless to an immortal when one is content. I had managed to find ways to personal contentment in the centuries before I met my mate. My Esme. With her, I had had completion and pure satisfaction of every sort. The three years, seven months and four days since her final demise had been a direct contrast to all those other years. When I tasted Bella Swan's lips for the first time, I felt as if a new calendar had been started in my existence. A new epoch of time. A calendar filled with intimate humanity, each day to be accounted for and used to its fullest, for I knew far too well how quickly those days flew and the days marking a life could end. Until then, I had her in my arms. Tasting the sweetness of her skin, the heat of her lips as they parted for me.

"Careful," I murmured. "Sharp teeth."

"Vampire. I got it," she responded, her breath rushing to fill my mouth. She didn't protest, inviting me to enter with the least invasive of caresses with her lips and tongue. I had never kissed a human before, a strange thing for someone of my long existence perhaps, but true. The newness of the experience, the incredible warmth and heat-amplified scents, the rushing of her heartbeat and the audible flow of her blood were incredibly erotic. Careful, always, of her awkwardly repaired shoulder, I lifted her gently from the floor and maneuvered us to the worn-cushioned comfort of the faded sofa.

"Nice," she laughed in approval as I settled her half across my lap so that her arm was resting on the back of the sofa past my shoulder. "Very smooth."

I was about to reply when I heard the distinctive sounds of Charlie Swan's police cruiser coming up the street. A burst of near-human panic at first had me freezing and then made me laugh at myself.

"What?"

"Your father. He's almost home."

Her blush inflamed my senses. "Oh! Um. Yeah. Help?"

Thus began a period of time for me in which I felt extremely young. I relished this feeling with every part of myself.

"Doctor, you certainly look like spring today," Noelle, the Head Nurse on the floor, said to me one morning in the middle of May. "I sense a romance in that smile somewhere..." Her smile was entirely of the well-wishing variety. "I'm happy for you if that's the case, Doctor."

"That obvious?" I wondered. Romance. Yes. I guessed the relationship I was developing with Isabella Swan was of the romantic variety. "I, ah, thank you." If I could have blushed, I would have rivaled Bella.

Noelle was pulling charts for the day, letting me recover my equilibrium without her scrutiny. "I see that Bella Swan is getting her brace off today. You've got x-ray reserved for her appointment. Need an extra set of hands?"

Memories of the past week or so flashed through my mind in a breath and I suppressed a smile with some difficulty "No. I think the tech and I can maneuver her well enough. I'll try a restrictive sling if she's knitting together properly."

"And I see that Mr. McCann is here for his follow-up." Together, we previewed the scheduled appointments of the day, knowing always that an emergency could interrupt everything. In a small town like Forks, though, it was understood by patients and staff alike. I preferred to work in small hospitals like this. The highly specialized segregation of the larger hospitals was far less pleasant for me.

"Are you sure _you_ can't be in charge of the PT?" Bella whispered after our final official appointment in terms of post-surgical recovery. "I'd be very cooperative, I promise." Her tiny smile and highly pronounced cheekbones only accented the aroma of her deepest femininity as she promised. I was relieved that no one else provoked such a response from her.

Still, I had to decline. "No. You should work with a licensed therapist. Besides," I went on, busying my hands by adjusting the straps of the canvas sling she had buckled around her torso, "a good physical therapist has to be a sadist, to a certain extent, and I don't know that I could purposefully ever cause you pain." I turned her to face me fully. "Sorry?"

Her face was the image of understanding. "Thank you."

Since the semester was nearly over, Bella's professors at school had allowed her to finish out her classes online, including her finals. She no longer required my tutelage, but our relationship had progressed past the point of requiring an excuse to get together.

I stood at Bella's door on a Friday evening and was about to knock when my phone vibrated. Stepping off the porch and closer to my car, I answered.

It was Jasper. "Carlisle! Sorry, I had to just do the manly shoulder-punch before Alice saw you knocking. She told me you looked nervous." I heard the smile in his voice, but as our resident empath, Jasper understood emotions better than any of us, even if he couldn't feel mine at the moment.

"Would you believe I am? I've never done this, you know. It's an entirely new experience for me."

I heard him laugh. "Yeah..." he drawled, "I've heard you've been getting a few entirely new experiences in, lately. Oh, just a sec, here's Edward."

"Carlisle. You're sure about this?"

"About what, Edward?"

"She's human. And she's not – not –." I heard my eldest "son" fumble for words. "You said that Emmett would be the last human you would change, Carlisle. I just wondered if you were setting yourself up for more pain, that's all."

I closed my eyes and held very still, feeling the slice of Edward's comment. "I know. But life is pleasure and pain intermingled, Edward. I can't shut myself from one to avoid the other. I won't. Not any more."

"You know I wish you all the best. I am truly happy for you. Alice's visions have been... encouraging." I could hear the smile in his voice. "What will you do about the law?"

"Avoid Italy," I snapped immediately. "Keep a low profile for the next sixty years..." _Sixty years_. All I could reasonably expect, but I refused to dwell on the end of that time. I swallowed back a silent welling of emotion in my throat. "She'll keep our secret. When you meet her this summer, Edward, you can poke in her mind, I'm sure, and find that out for yourself."

"Looking forward to it."

"Hey!" Emmett's voice was next in my ear. "Asking her out on a real date and doing the official Meet the Dad moment! Awesome."

"Emmett, good evening. I will be, as soon as my wonderful _brothers_ allow me to get off the phone..."

"Yeah, yeah. Just be careful with the teeth and stuff. I guess I don't have to tell you to stay safe?"

"Emmett!" Exasperation and amusement came through equally. "Good night!"

Strange, but I really did feel far less nervous having talked to them. I was the only one in the family who had had to go through this courtship ritual. Alice found Jasper and Emmett had been found by Rosalie. Edward had never expressed an interest in any female, vampire or human, so this was not something he had done himself. Nor had I, before.

Clearing my throat unnecessarily, I raised my hand to knock on the door and experience the "picking up my date" moment.

"Carlisle," Charlie Swan said with a smile quirking under his thick mustache. "Good to see you. Bella will be down in a minute."

"Thanks, Chief."

"_Charlie_. How many times do we have to go through this?"

I went along with the urge to rub at the back of my neck. I'd been, of course, a frequent visitor at the Swan house since Isabella's release from the hospital, but I had been – perhaps in error – operating under the assumption that Bella and I were still "in the closet," as the saying went these days. "Sorry, Charlie. I just didn't want to –" In my head, I kept chanting, _I'm twenty-eight. I'm twenty-eight._

The Chief of Police laughed out loud. "I'm not blind. Come on, have a seat, Carlisle."

Unsettled, I still felt a strange sort of delicious humanity burning in my chest as I complied. "Everything all right?"

"Look. I didn't worry about it when my daughter's surgeon started tutoring her. I didn't worry about it when she started looking all goofy in the face when she was expecting you, either. And that was when you were her _doc_. You're really not anymore, so what the hell are you so nervous about? Hell, Carlisle, you're practically sweating!"

Bella's laugh exploded from upstairs and both Charlie and myself exchanged smile-filled glances. "Sorry. I just haven't done this in a while."

The humor fled his face. "I know it, son. And I won't say I'm not a little worried about that. But I trust her judgment and I figure I trust yours, too. Gotta. You put her back together and put a smile on her face and as her dad I can't argue with that. Just be careful, okay?"

I understood his concern. I had known humans for too many centuries not to comprehend his worry about Bella's emotional state. "I'm not, er, rebounding, Chief – Charlie. I genuinely enjoy Isabella. She's always surprising me."

He laughed softly. "Yeah. Me too. It was real hard on Bells, moving up here for middle school after Renée died, but she pulled it together and managed to come and make a new life for herself. I'm real proud of her."

"You should be. She's remarkable."

"All right! Enough talking about me! Sheesh! Dad? Are you _done_ with the interrogation?" Her words were perhaps harsh, but I could see her affection for her father in her eyes and hear it in her voice. "Because Carlisle is taking me to dinner and a movie and I'm really wanting to celebrate my freedom of movement and ability to sit in a theater without braining some poor kid!"

I rose to meet her at the foot of the stairs. "Then let's not delay. We've got reservations."

She rolled her eyes. "Great. Reservations. Promise me you aren't being...excessive?"

Charlie interrupted with a hand clapped firmly on my shoulder and the back of the other one brushing Bella's cheek with silent caring. "Bells, let the man be a little excessive. It's like giving a gift back to him, okay?"

Surprise widened Bella's eyes as well as my own. "Thank you, Charlie," I murmured. "I'll have to remember that."

Bella sighed. "Great. Okay. Let's go. Bye, Dad. Don't wait up." As we left the house, she muttered something about how her dad and boyfriend were ganging up on her.

_Boyfriend_. I paused for a moment and let that sink in without remarking upon it just yet. Later. I had things I wanted to discuss with her and I hoped that this evening would be conducive to it.

I inwardly acknowledged that strange, nearly human nervousness for the third time that evening as I opened her door for her. She smiled up at me, her expression playful as she smoothed the khaki skirt down over her knees. "So," she said after I'd started driving to our destination, "who called? Alice? Was she warning you about Charlie's third degree?"

"You were spying on me!" I laughed. "No. It was Jasper, followed by Edward and Emmett. They are all, by the way, looking forward to meeting you."

I could feel her trepidation. "When?"

"This summer. Not tonight."

"Whew! Good. So where are we going tonight?"

I offered her a playful leer as I reached the highway. "Vampire's lair work for you?"

"Seriously? You know, I've kind of wondered..." She blushed and adjusted the collar of her deep blue blouse. "I just didn't want to put you out or anything. I mean, I've never been to a vampire's house before so..."

I took her hand in mine as I sped along. "I live in the woods," I began slowly, purposefully teasing her. Then, I stopped and thought about it. Really, I was being selfish in courting her. Sixty years... Maybe. Her mother had died young from breast cancer. I had the resources to monitor that certainly, but that malady did tend to run in families. I could assist with that even if she did decide to retain her humanity and avoid any connection with the vampire world. She was human and deserved all the blessings of that state...

Perhaps I needed to remind her of the reasons she _shouldn't_ be with me. She had called me her boyfriend under her breath – nothing we had spoken of, but it didn't seem like enough either, so I wasn't sure how to address that. Yes, there were a few things it was likely time to discuss.

We took the turn-off on the property I had purchased along with the house. Three miles of drive under a canopy of trees that had been old when my family had lived here seventy-odd years ago. "The woods, huh?" Bella murmured, leaning forward and craning her neck to see the trees overhead. "You weren't kidding."

"No, I wasn't."

I saw the surreptitious glance she sent over my trousers, shirt and braces – suspenders. I had noticed that the last item had garnered an extremely favorable reaction from her on more than one occasion, so I opted for them this evening. She bit her lip as she considered her own skirt and shoes, I could see. _Ah_. "You look perfect," I told her.

She jumped a little. "Wait. You told me that your brother Edward was the mind-reader."

"He is. I'm just...observant."

"Oh? And what are you observing?"

"That you're worried about your clothes. Don't be. You look wonderful." I inhaled and, as I pulled into the garage, leaned to breathe deeply of Essence of Bella at her throat, where the pale skin met the rich color of her blouse. "Mmmm." I felt her shiver and smiled into her skin as her heart sped. "You smell..."

"Mouthwatering?" she guessed, her breath catching.

"Perfect. Believe it or not, I have absolutely no urge to bite to break skin."

"What about...about biting _not_ to break skin?" she rasped, arching her neck to afford me greater access to the hollow of her throat. Her fingers were gripping the edge of the car's seat with restless sounds.

The image she suggested stilled me before I moved at my usual speed to tug her over between me and the steering wheel. She was small and slender enough to fit in a very close way. "That remains to be seen," I murmured.

She seized the initiative and slid her heated lips over my stone skin, smoothing my hair with her fingers before grazing my ear with her teeth. "Can't break your skin," she breathed and I swallowed. Hard. It was purely a reflex action to protect her. She wasn't strong enough to break my skin, but the pressure she was using was...provoking all sorts of responses in me.

"Bella... Careful."

"Why?" Another subtle motion of her head brought her teeth to my throat and, as she had done, I arched my own neck to grant her freedom to do as she wished. "You taste amazing, Carlisle." Heat...the wet heat of her mouth was so compelling.

I _had_ to stop her. "Come. I promised you dinner." It was a struggle to draw air into my lungs. I felt like I had to, though breathing was no longer essential. It was, again, a reflex action on my part.

"A man of your word... I really adore that. Just so you know." She pulled back a little with a sultry smile. "So?" And then, she noticed where we were. "Wait! This is a garage!"

"Of course. What did you expect, a cave?"

Laughing, she awkwardly shifted herself back to her seat. "Um, I really hadn't tried to make too many assumptions, to be honest. I mean, you don't die in the sunlight and you don't turn into a bat..."

"Come on. I'll show you the house."

Holding hands, we came in from the garage into the laundry room and from there into the kitchen. I gave her the full tour, including the small lap pool in the basement all the way up the gently curving, oak-banistered staircase to the third floor. "Edward's room is up here."

"And _yours_...?" she asked, her skin heating predictably.

"Down on the second." I was nervous. It was not my intention to take Bella to bed at this point in our relationship, but I had been listening to young women for a long time and Edward of course had cast aspersions on the sexual mores of the day on an average of once a year since the 1950's. I had no way of knowing exactly what Isabella's expectations were.

Yet another thing that needed to be discussed. We reached my room, with its bed of dark cherry and matching accompanying pieces against a background of pale neutrals – Alice and Rosalie would no doubt redecorate this summer – and Bella peeked in.

"Nice," she whispered, her heart thudding almost painfully. "Um, dinner?"

One less thing to worry about. It was with great relief that I escorted Bella to my kitchen once again. I had been practicing, so we worked together to produce a quick chicken piccata dish with salad and fruit on the side.

"So, you keep a fully stocked kitchen? Feed humans often, Carlisle?" She was teasing, but she didn't meet my eyes as she chopped fresh fruit and arranged it in a small bowl for herself.

"No. Just part of the cover, Isabella. You've got good hands, you know. And a smooth rhythm with a knife. You could consider surgery as a specialty."

She snorted with laughter at my attempt to compliment her. "Me? Good with knives? Maybe good enough to cook dinner but not enough to trust someone's spleen under my hand, Carlisle. I don't want to tackle a specialty like that." Over the sound of the tap water running in the sink as she washed up, she elaborated. "I actually want to be a GP. It may sound really stupid, but my idea of being a doctor is – is being in some small town that needs a doc, you know? Someone who can help with babies and kids as well as the older folks. I – I don't want patients to be five minutes on a table while I sit with a computer in my hand, you know?" She shot me an embarrassed look over her shoulder as she dried her hands. "Maybe I watched too much _Little House on the Prairie _on Nick at Night or something as a child. I don't know. But it's what I want to do. If I can."

"Just when I thought there were no surprises left," I whispered as I crossed the kitchen to pull her into my arms. "You show me I'm all wrong."

[+]

After dinner and some light conversation, I lit citronella candles on the back deck that overlooked a broad stream twenty-seven yards from the back door. Fireflies flickered occasionally in the gloaming, seen sporadically dancing among the trees. We could hear the stream as a delicate addition to the evening as we sat in the set of Adirondack chairs. No rain was falling at the moment, but there was a heavy cloud cover that did not bode well for later.

"This is a lovely home, Carlisle." She tossed me a smile. "Nothing like in the stories."

"Some things about my life are, though. Thought I should fill you in before the rest of the family came out and quizzed you."

"With you as my tutor, I'd pass without breaking a sweat."

"I thank you."

"So what do I need to know? Should I take notes?"

I shook my head, but didn't smile as I shifted in my chair so I could see her more fully. "You know we consider ourselves 'vegetarians,' right?" I said, using fingers to emphasize the silly term my family and others like us used to describe our somewhat deviant diet.

"You only drink from animals. You said it was like eating venison or something. I completely get that. Can't imagine why anyone would do otherwise, honestly."

"And you know that the majority of my kind do not. If you see anyone like me but with red or burgundy eyes, it's a problem."

"Ah. All right." Her heart skipped and stuttered, but she was outwardly very calm. This type of self-control would serve her well as a physician and my pride in her increased yet again. "Do you expect any, um, company with red eyes?"

"No. Absolutely not. I would never endanger you in that way. You – your blood – is very appealing, as I may have mentioned."

"Oh, once or twice," she drawled, leaning back in her chair and extending her limbs. I could hear the muscles tense and relax, her tendons popping and bones settling anew. This discussion was stressful for her. She sighed. "Why are you telling me all this now?"

"I wanted you to be...informed. You – you called me your _boyfriend_, earlier. Don't think I didn't hear that." Her heart jumped in her breast and I was quick to propel myself to her side, kneeling at the arm of her chair. "I was honored. I _am_ honored. Don't misunderstand me. I'm just not sure you know what you're getting into with me."

Drawing herself up and a little away from me, she plowed her fingers through my hair once before pushing herself to her feet. She wobbled and winced as her right arm was much weaker than she remembered it being no doubt, but she stood on her own. "Let me see," she said, her voice uncharacteristically sharp. I realized I had offended her and rose to apologize but she waved me off and spoke to the night. "You're a vampire. You belong to a family of them. None of you drink from humans; you're all _vegetarians_," she went on, smiling a little over her shoulder at me and letting me know I was forgiven. "You have to keep that a secret, but you hang out with humans all the time. You _especially_. You're so good that you can work with blood all the time, which I'm guessing is unheard of. You are dating a human who smells really good but she is categorically not worried about you being near her." With an angled brow, she turned and continued. "You're worried about the human girlfriend and thinking that she might do better if she weren't involved with you at all. Your family probably has mentioned that, since you are all so secretive." Crossing her arms under her breasts, she asked, "So? How'm I doing, doc?"

I thrust my hands into my pockets. "Better than I could have imagined. Yes, I am worried. It's a dangerous world from where I stand, Bella." I pushed out a breath. "And there's so much out there for you. So much you could do. The small town practice. How could you be so accessible, living on the edge of the supernatural?"

"You do it. You're a good man, Carlisle. You are."

I shrugged and slowly moved to take her hands in mine. "I take lives all the time. Animal, but even so. It's not pretty."

"Show me?"

Shocked, I dropped her hands. "No. _No_. You have no idea what you're asking."

"How can I know if you won't show me?"

My argument died on my tongue. Maybe that _was_ what she needed to see to understand. I puffed out a breath. "All right. Next time I go hunting...I'll take you with me." _God, don't let me hurt her. Please..._

The sun reappeared in her smile. I let the "dangerous vampire" discussion go for the time being. She wrapped her arms around me, so that her heat enveloped me like benevolent thoughts from a saint. "So, didn't you promise me a movie?"


	5. Hunter and Prey

**A/N: Thanks again to everyone reading and rec'ing and reviewing this little story! I so appreciate you. And big thanks to Team LJ4CB for laying out actual funds in the FGB auction to make this happen. You ladies are beautiful.**

**

* * *

**

_**Chapter Five: Hunter and Prey**_

**Bella POV **

"Angela, hi! Wow, it's been forever, I know. How're you and Ben doing?" Finals week was upon us, and even though I wasn't attending classes in body, I was still connected to the university and kept in touch with my classmates and friends. Angela Weber was a local girl, too. She and I had roomed together Freshman year, having more in common than not. We were both daughters of prominent community figures, we both were on the shy side and neither of us had a boyfriend all during high school.

I heard her laugh softly. "Things are great. We're both working closer to home over the summer. Well, sort of. I'm doing the camp counselor thing again, but it's good money and fun. And Ben'll get to come up and see me on the weekends." She paused, then asked tentatively, "So...? You mentioned there was a new hot doc in town?"

"Uh, yeah." _And he's a vampire and his family's going to be joining him in like a week or so and then Forks'll have six vampires. _Not. Even. Gonna. "Dr. Cullen. Sounds a little like Kenneth Branagh in _Much Ado About Nothing_. He's twenty-eight," _give or take a few centuries_, "and...ready?"

"What?"

"He looks really amazing in suspenders."

"Oh, Bella. Should I be, like, _jumping_ over here?"

I couldn't hold back the stupid giggle. "Um, maybe?"

"I have _got_ to meet Dr. McBranagh!"

I rolled my eyes and plopped gracelessly to the bed. "I'm sure we can arrange that. Hey, I've gotta send in my last finals in the next hour. I'll see you when you get back in town?"

"Would not miss it for anything. Maybe you and Dr. Mc –"

"Stop it! Don't keep calling him that or you'll say it in front of him and he'll think I was saying it and –" I could just imagine. I'd roll up in a blushing red ball and die. "_Dr. Cullen_ will do nicely, all right?"

"Fine. Just teasing. Hey, Ben's calling. Gotta go."

Off the phone, I turned my attention to my laptop and the final essays and exams that my professors had sent me. I was on the honor system and didn't cheat, but I did want to read over my answers before I turned them in. I heard a car drive up, but it was Charlie so I didn't go down yet.

"Bells?" he called after he shut the door. I could hear his thudding tread pounding up the stairs. "You home?"

"Sending in my finals, Dad. I'll be down in a sec."

His head appeared in my doorway. "Sorry, hon. I forgot about finals. I can go to the diner for dinner, if you want me to...?" I blushed and paused; he blinked and laughed. The older I got, the more similarities I saw in the two of us. "Um, kinda celebrating with Carlisle tonight, Dad. Remember? Angela and Ben are celebrating too, but they're still in Seattle."

He nodded, apparently trying really hard to hide a smile. He failed. "Well, I'd say you've earned it, Bells." He got serious, then. "Remember, just because he was your doctor and tutor doesn't mean you _owe_ him anything, all right?"

My cheeks flamed. "Dad! Yeah, I know. Sheesh. Don't worry. We're good."

"I don't even want to hear about it," he said, pushing off the door frame and heading to the bathroom. "Holler when you're leaving. I'll leave a light on for you."

"Thanks, Dad!"

The physical therapy had been painful but helpful, as Carlisle had told me it would be. I tried to learn from this because someday I hoped to be referring patients of mine to PT and I wanted to be able to tell them what to expect. The results were apparent as I was able to shower and dress myself without wincing too much. Okay, the bra was a trial, but I just fastened it in the front and turned it around and winced as I slid my arms through the straps. That hurt. A lot. My therapist was a woman and she and I had actually practiced with a bra. She understood that kind of thing. I was really, really thankful that I didn't have a male therapist!

I think Carlisle was, too.

He had plans for the evening. For those plans, I was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a deep green sweater over a white tank top. Even though it was June, it was still chilly when one was running at speeds faster than any posted limit, according to Carlisle. And running we would be, because tonight, as I had told Charlie earlier in the week, Carlisle was taking me out to dinner. _Out_ being the key word. Out _somewhere_ in Olympic National Park. Carlisle said he might be having venison. Very _rare_ venison. Or some other non-endangered species of animal. I was looking forward to it. He was making me a simple spaghetti dinner so I could eat before we took off. On foot. Well, he'd be on foot. I'd be playing vampire piggy-back.

Just before Carlisle was due to arrive, I shut down my laptop, packed a change of clothes into my backpack in case I fell in a river or down a ravine while we were in the forest, and slipped a hairband in my front pocket. Mascara would do it for makeup; lip gloss tasted "rather unpleasant," Carlisle had informed me to my embarrassment once. I let my lips go au naturel ever since. I leaned against the window sill and waited like some princess for my prince to arrive on his stallion.

Stallions were virile animals. I could not vouch for _Carlisle's_ virility _per se,_ but I knew he, as some of the girls said at school, "made my ovaries explode." We hadn't discussed sex, though I knew that it was something he was entirely capable of and that he did indeed want... Males were the same, apparently, in this life and any other. But the whole "his girlfriend is a human virgin" thing was not something to be overlooked, I knew. Blood. Instincts. Fragile bones... Still, I couldn't help but daydream, could I?

Carlisle, being Carlisle, would probably want to plan "a moment." Me being me, I wanted not to think about it. I enjoyed things as they were so far and looked forward to them going further. Seriously, he was wise to wait. I was only regaining the full use of my arm and that fragility factor was not something I felt like testing.

The prince on his gleaming charcoal steed made his appearance and I felt my heart start to race. Slipping my backpack up my arm, I called, "Dad? Carlisle's here. Don't wait up!"

"I didn't need to hear that again!" Charlie called from his room. "Have a good night, kid." A pause. "But not too good!"

I was laughing as I made my way carefully down the stairs and to the front door. Carlisle was just lifting his hand to knock when I opened the door. "Hi!" I said, my voice catching. As always, he looked amazing. Casually dressed – he'd been off shift for hours from the hospital and was dressed for hunting this evening – he wore a pair of dark, straight-leg jeans that fit low on his hips and a long-sleeved shirt that hung over the jeans. It was dark gray with a tiny herringbone pattern. "You look – wow." I said at last, blushing because I'd been staring at him. "I've never seen a man dress so well."

He laughed a little and moved aside so I could join him on the porch. It was twilight and the fading orange and deep yellow lights were not in any danger of making his skin sparkle. "Actually Alice is generally the one in charge of our wardrobes. She's got an eye for what is appropriate." He took my hand as we walked to the car. "I'll let her know you like her style." At my embarrassed gasp, he pulled my hand to his lips and met my gaze. "If she hasn't already seen us having this conversation already, she'll still be very pleased, you know."

I felt a sort of energy coming from him, that evening. An energy that hadn't been present before. "Are you all right?" I inquired softly as we sped toward his home. He wasn't going too fast, but faster than the speed limit. I had learned weeks ago not to discuss this with him. His reflexes were better than any I'd ever seen. "You seem...different, this evening."

He slanted a dark glance to me. "Different how, Isabella?"

I don't know why, but sometimes when he said my full name like that, I melted inside. The accent? The timber of his voice? The way it sounded all _courtly_ like those old romances I read in high school when I hung out with the Jane Austen Book Club? I didn't know exactly why, but it happened again as we cruised down the highway. "You're on edge, but also excited," I said slowly, trying to parse out what I was catching by sheer feminine intuition. "You're happy to be with me –"

"Yes," he interrupted, obvious pleasure in his gaze as it rested on me for a moment before he put his eyes forward again. "And you are astute, as always. I _am_ on edge, yes. I can't help but be that way. You know why."

"Spaghetti?" I tried to make him smile. It didn't work and he grimaced momentarily. "Because you're taking me hunting with you. You can leave me in a tree, you know. Or keep me on the ground or on a boulder off the ground so you can find me. I know you've got that amazing sight, right? Even at night?"

"Especially at night, Bella. I'm a predator." There was nothing I could say to that so I sat, imagining Carlisle hunting. How fast would he move? How would he look? Would he return to me, elk blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, with a shredded pair of jeans?

Now _that_ was an image that made me quiver inside.

Out of nowhere, Carlisle chuckled, turning off the highway and onto the now-familiar drive to the white Victorian on the edge of the Olympic National Park. "You never cease to amaze me, Bella." His voice was close and intimate as he drove with a marked decrease of speed under the leafy canopy. "And yes to the rest, too. I am excited to be with you, yes. Against my better judgment, there is a part of me that wants to share this – this more feral part of myself with you." He reached to clasp my hand carefully in his as he decelerated even more. The powerful engine of the Mercedes got a bit louder, it seemed to me, as we neared the house. "Hunting, for my kind, is a bonding experience. Among the nomads that roam the world –"

"The ones with red eyes?"

"Yes. They hunt solo, or with their – with their mate."

He paused and a too-familiar sorrow had his mouth tightening at the corner. I knew he would always remember his wife – his mate, he had called her. Esme. His mind forgot nothing, ever. Her memory was something I guessed I was prepared to accept into my relationship with him, so I waited patiently until Carlisle was ready to resume his train of thought.

"So... With my family, we hunt together as a familial bonding time. I've rather missed that." Turning into the brick-lined drive of the house, he opened the garage door and brought my hand to his cheek, cradling his face against my palm. "And tonight, I'll hunt with you. You won't be with me when I kill whatever it is I find out there, but – but you'll be with me, in my spirit." He held all of my attention with his eyes. Dark brown, today. Like mine, almost.

The muted motor of the garage door penetrated the interior of the car, breaking the solemn intimacy of the moment. "Well, you're going to provide me with my own dinner first, so I think you're being very gentlemanly," I said lightly.

After I had eaten my dinner and brushed my teeth – Carlisle had spare hygiene products for me in the downstairs bath because I felt self-conscious about my breath after eating in front of him – I brushed my hair into a ponytail high on my head before emerging from the basic white bathroom with its tiny blue flowered accents in the corners. It didn't feel like Carlisle at all – none of the rooms did, to me. Well, his sisters were likely going to give the place a makeover when they arrived.

Which would be soon. In a day or two. He wasn't certain, as they were driving in from Tennessee. "Weather conditions might hamper their travel," he had told me the day before.

"Rain?"

"Sunshine."

"Ah." We laughed a little about it, even though it was a bit odd to me, still.

I was remembering that moment with a smile when I rejoined Carlisle at the rear door that led to the wooden decking. "All set," I told him.

He turned, his expression thoughtful until he registered my appearance. And I thought I heard him moan, deep in his throat, as he reached for me. "Isabella..." He didn't kiss me, but he lifted me up and buried his face against my throat. "You're so beautiful. So powerfully so," he murmured after a moment. His breathing moved his chest against me – erotic, as the hard muscles of his chest met my own more giving flesh – the breath itself brushing over my skin. "And sorry," he went on, briefly rearranging our embrace to look at me with a half-embarrassed expression, "but you really smell delectable."

"But not to break skin."

"Not yours." Then, he slid his lips down my throat and up again before claiming mine in a nearly bruising kiss.

When I got my breath back, he set me gently on the floor and held me. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

I huffed. "Yes. A hundred times yes."

"All right then." In a flash, he disappeared and then reappeared with a harness. "This is used for skydivers when they are jumping for the first time," he told me, moving with eye-blurring speeds as I stood there like a mannequin and let him secure buckles and nylon straps around me. "I'm going to attach you to my back like this, so you don't have to try to hold on while I run. You can just enjoy the ride," he concluded, having fastened everything so quickly that I was already strapped securely to his back.

"I'll do my best," I murmured against the back of his neck. I heard him growl pleasantly as his hands moved with a new restlessness over my thighs. "Whenever you're ready." I tightened my arms and legs around him just as he opened the door –

And ran!

"Wow!" I shouted, laughing into the speed-generated wind that blew past my face. I tucked my chin onto Carlisle's shoulder as he leapt over the stream near his house and into the dark forest beyond. I heard nothing but my own heartbeat in my chest and the wind past my ears and wondered what he heard, as he ran with me. His hands rarely left my legs, whether their cool pressure was against my knees, thighs, or calves, he was always touching me. I imagined that my heart pounded against his back and I hoped that was a pleasant sound for him. He was always appreciative – and careful – of my humanity.

His hands left me at one point. He leapt out from under the trees and into the open air and I squeaked in surprise. "Carlisle?" No moonlight was in evidence, but the sky was dark and mostly clear, save for some light clouds that were clumped together like shy kids at a school dance. They were all I could see at first. Then we landed and we were on a rough surface. A boulder!

"You all right back there, dear?" he asked as he moved up, hand over hand to the top of the rock formation. There were a cluster of rocks here, actually. I could see how he was testing a couple of the smaller stones to see if they were stable. "I think I'd like to have you set up here, if that's all right? You'll be safe, here, but still have a fair view of the area."

"And you'll be able to see me."

His chuckle was soft as his hands made quick work of the straps and fasteners which bound us. "Not at all a bad thing, I can assure you," he murmured. "Let me just check to make sure you didn't sustain any damage in all that running." Tender fingers grazed over my entire body, leaving a trail of delightful anticipation that I was fairly certain he was more than a little aware of. His eyes burned even in the darkness as he did something with all the straps and buckles that made them into a compact roll near my feet as I stood on the top of the boulder.

"So did I come through unscathed, doctor?" I tried to let my feet find a steady place to stand as he turned to survey the surrounded forest.

"Entirely. So unscathed, in fact," he continued, turning to me and taking my hands in his, "that though I'm ready to hunt, I don't wish to leave you." His voice roughened and did crazy things to my heartbeat. "You must promise me to stay right here while I'm gone, Isabella. When we hunt... I told you we tend to act on our baser instincts. I want to be able to know that you're safe here – that I've left you behind as safe as I can make you while I'm hunting. And then," he went on, his hands caressing my arms with restless, jagged motions, "I'll return here to you and we can..."

Something in his now-black gaze took my breath out of my body. I gasped thickly and had to swallow in order to draw more air back in. "We can what?"

"Debrief."

I deflated momentarily. That wasn't what I was expecting. He took advantage of my momentary "huh?" moment and brushed my lips lightly with his own before turning and leaping off the rock and down the full distance to the leafy ground. I was about as high above him now as I would be sitting on the roof of a one-story house.

"Stay there!" he called.

"I will!"

He stood then, his body below the shoulders perfectly still and his head elevated as he moved it back and forth. He was trying to catch a scent, I guessed. Suddenly he crouched, and I heard something that sounded like a growl float up to me before my favorite doctor made like an arrow and shot away.

With the dark hair and clothes, he disappeared immediately into the foliage, leaving me to reflect upon him and our relationship. As if I hadn't spent hours of every day doing just that. He was practically the perfect man, which made me happy. We hadn't spoken of all those deep and dangerous "feelings" yet, but I knew how I felt about him.

I loved him. It wasn't terribly complicated, that feeling. The relationship though – that was a _maze_ of complications. A maze I knew I could navigate if he were holding my hand while I did so. A part of him was, I understood, still held in sadness because of his wife's death. I got that. More important to me was that he was letting much more of himself enjoy being with me. Me, a human girl who just happened to get hit by a truck and fall under the discerning eyes and nose and fingertips of the hottest new (vampire) doctor in Forks. But there were problems, I knew. I wasn't supposed to know about vampires. There was some kind of _death penalty_ for knowing, imposed by a vampire police force I never wanted to meet. And, too, there was Carlisle's family. Most of whom were looking forward to meeting me, but still.

How did he feel about me? He didn't give me "those three little words" and I was fine with that, because I didn't think he _loved_ me loved me. He had been married for decades to one woman, for Pete's sake. I didn't even think about being on the same level with Esme Cullen and it had nothing to do with her having been a vampire. It was simply a fact of Carlisle's life before he met me.

I didn't know what would happen with Carlisle, but the way he spoke about the future – my future – led me to believe he was thinking of being a part of my life, anyway. In an intimate way. "Living on the edge of the supernatural" he had said once. If it meant living with him, I was all for that.

So I sat down on top of the cabin-sized boulder and waited for my "vegetarian" vampire to finish his hunt. I wondered what he meant by all those feral instincts. I wondered if he would return as he had in my imagination: clothing shredded by a fight with a bear or mountain lion, eyes golden and burning for me...

When he returned, he would find me smiling.

* * *

**Carlisle POV**

I felt Bella's heartbeat on my back even after I had leapt off the boulder and away from her, tearing off after the scent of a mountain lion. Under other circumstances, I might have left that cat for Edward since they were his favorite prey, but not tonight. I wanted whatever extra vestige of inner strength the predator could impart to me.

"_You're on edge, but also excited," _she had said earlier. I could hear her husky alto as I ran in pursuit.

Excited, yes. I had a sense about this evening. It was likely no more than instinct, but she wanted to see me at my most basic level and I would show her. I trusted her with everything I had to share with her and this was the last part of what I had hidden. Until tonight.

The scent grew stronger. The musk of the lioness, hunting for herself this evening. My thoughts narrowed to the pursuit. To tracking the scent of my prey. To the nearly silent padding of her paws and the dry crack of a leaf. But always, Bella was with me. The memory of her precious heartbeat pounded into my back between my shoulder blades. Against my spine.

And that wasn't all I had felt, either. The sense-memories of her heat and the personal scents that were entirely Bella Swan clung to my clothing.

I might have to delay doing the laundry until the rest of the family returned.

There she was – the lion! I felt the inner tension as I launched through the air to land on her back, breaking her spine in two places even as she yowled at me. Her warning threat was lacking in lung power and she had no ability to even tear my shirt as she growled with anger in my deadly embrace. Hundreds of years hunting told me where her jugular was and I bit down into it, breaking through fur and skin and finding her blood.

Yes, I was an animal drinker but – as I had told Isabella once – I took the lives of the living all the time. I was just thankful that God Almighty had shown me a way out of the almost certain murdering-of-humanity path I could have taken.

I pulled the blood into my body, draining the lioness dry. When her heart stopped beating, I felt powerful – a curse, a blessing? I didn't know. I just felt warm with the blood of my prey and my one thought was to return to Bella. As I ran back to her, I felt the need for a mate after a hunt. Something I hadn't felt since Esme had died. I would never have another mate. I knew that. Vampires mated once and once only and it was a bond that was completely evident in both parties. It was mutual. It was irreversible.

But that didn't mean that a mated relationship was the only option out there. A majority of my kind went throughout their existences without mates, but with lovers. Loves. They loved and were loved and it worked out to everyone's satisfaction.

The question was, how did I feel? How did she feel?

Heartbeat. Bella's heartbeat. I left the stream of thought I had been following and focused on the heartbeat that called to me. On the fragrant call of a near-singer who was not far from me. On the beautiful face, sultry voice and tempting body of the young woman who waited for me.

She saw me and hopped up to her feet, waving as I ran to her. My body seemed to move toward her of its own accord – my own will being secondary but in certain agreement.

"Carlisle!" she called, joy and pleasure and something else layering her voice in my ear.

I didn't answer but merely coiled my body briefly before leaping up to land lightly at her side. "Bella," I breathed, inhaling deeply of her scent. That tantalizing aroma that had assailed me months prior. I wrapped her up against me and buried my nose in the thick hair just to one side of the hair band she used to keep her ponytail back. "Mmmm..."

I felt and heard her soft laughter. "No shredded clothes. I'm almost disappointed."

Instinct snapped back in me. Instinct that ruled my body during the hunt. Encouraged by the curl of Bella's voice and by her soft sounds as I ravished her lips and throat with my mouth, I felt that instinct building in me until there was nothing I wanted in the world so much as to surround myself in the heat of her.

"I want... I need... Oh, Bella...may I...?" Left with incoherent half-phrases, I couldn't seem to find it in myself to care. She didn't mind either apparently, for she didn't object at all as I tugged her outer sweater up and over her head, leaving her pale, perfect skin to my view. Arms, throat, collarbone, the sliver of skin between her tank top and jeans...

I lowered her gently to the flat surface of the granite. It still contained the stored heat of the sun, which made it more comfortable for us both.

At least, it did until my Bella scraped her hand while trying to tug off her jeans. She hissed in pain and though her blood did seep through to the surface of her skin, I ignored it.

"You just need a light bandage," I told her. "So why don't we return to the house?"

She swore lightly under her breath. "But Carlisle... I'm fine. I want... I don't want to stop." She punctuated her wish with a kiss on my throat, her hot breath greeting my skin as a delicious caress. "Please..."

"Not here, darling. No. Not here. Come."

I didn't bother with the skydiving straps. I just picked her up and carried her in my arms, running at my top speed, my senses extended, all the way to the house. All was well. Quiet.

In a flash, we were indoors, up the stairs and in my room. The room I had seen Bella occupying in my imagination for weeks. "My sweater?" she finally said, laughing lightly and ignoring the blood on her knuckles. "Carlisle?"

I was not going to apologize tonight. Not for anything. She wanted _instinctive_, she was getting it. Shame, if there was any, would be felt in the morning. Not tonight. So I shrugged and flashed down to the lower bath, where I kept things especially for my human girlfriend. That term wasn't _enough_. But she wasn't my lover... Not quite.

Edward would be dismayed, but I could not bring myself to care. Hunt. Mate. Blood. Sex. Basic desires in every vampire, they were holding the reins on my behavior just then. Before Bella could do more than kick off her shoes, I was with her again.

"Carlisle, it's nothing..."

"Hush," I said, kissing the skin on the back of her hand. Not her abraded knuckles, but the skin near them. Hot, it was. Hot and pulsing, the smallest capillaries had my attention. "Let me take care of you." I smiled at her. "I'm your doctor."

"Yes, Dr. Cullen," she murmured, her voice spiraling down inside me. "Whatever you say."

A sudden fierce need for her freed itself and, in mere moments, we were on my bed, her hair free and fanning out behind her on the pillows, just as it always was in my mind. And then, mindful of her avowed virgin status, I moved to lie on my back, my hands bracketing the gentle indentation of her waist and slight flaring of her hips as I guided her over me. I felt a brief stab of guilt that I had not taken the time to prepare her, but _this_ was part of the mating instinct of a vampire.

And I could ascertain that my Bella was ready for me. Carefully, in direct contrast to the powerful urges that wanted to uncoil and possess her with rough abandon, I joined with her.

\ \ \ \ \/ / / / /

It was not quite dawn when I dragged myself away from her. Darkness outlined the trees from the window-wall of my room. No curtains were closed to mar the view or keep out the light when it came. Here, I could be myself. No hiding.

Bella protested in her sleep when she felt me move, but I didn't climb back in with her. Instead, I just studied the perfection of the human with whom I had spent the night. I never had understood Kate's fascination with human males...until now. Though our first coupling had been abrupt, I had made sure she achieved satisfaction. It just had taken me a while. Her hymen's blood was evidence of her inexperience, but I had enough to spare...barely. Barely enough experience to bring pleasure to a fragile human... So different than the playful and wild moments of a post-hunt lovemaking with Esme. Still, the decades spent handling human bodies and speaking to humans as their physician was enough to help me with Isabella - currently the most important human in my world.

How did I make love to a human? I went on instinct, all night. This morning, I could see the tender lines of her flesh, the rosy tints of her skin. Bruises she had, but only where the nylon straps of the makeshift carrying harness had pressed too hard on her body; I would remedy that next time. Oh, yes. If she were willing, there would be a next time. I hadn't felt so complete since –

Since Esme had been stolen from me. Her light extinguished.

But a new light was dawning; I could see that now. A new light with warmth and beauty and the vibrant possibilities of humanity. How would Bella and I explore them together? I wanted to be there with her.

_Sixty years...perhaps..._

Dragging my eyes from her, I only then caught the details of the night. My dirty clothes, her tank top – torn at my hand – all were scattered about the room. Her sweater had been left on the boulder last night. Jeans in a heap... I had had no patience!

I would remedy that too, at the next available opportunity. First thing though, was to shower.

I dropped a gentle kiss to Bella's creamy shoulder, its warmth soothing to my soul, before covering her up with the smooth white bedsheet and stepping across to the en suite bathroom. I hadn't considered the size of the shower before, or its many apertures for hot water, but now that I was finding a new path for happiness in my existence, I took note of these things. Of the gray marble shower, the chrome shower fixtures, the dark blue towels that gave color to the room. I wondered what my Bella would add...?

With a smile, I turned the shower on and let my imagination go again. Until I heard, over the multiple propulsions of water, three cars arriving in front of the house. I winced. They were early! Bella would be mortified.

Hurrying, I cleansed my stone skin as fast as only one of my kind can do and rinsed off. I had only barely finished and had yet to turn off the faucets when I heard a door slamming with enough force to crack a wall.

Then came Bella's voice – sharply pitched and high with fear. "Carlisle!"

I flew out of the shower, my towel knotted at my hip when Bella appeared at the now-open door. Every instinct had me pushing her behind me into the bathroom as I confronted the intruder into my personal room. Even if it were _Emmett_, this was inexcusable.

But it wasn't Emmett. It was _Edward_.

"As if you could outrun me!" he growled, his venom pooling without his notice or concern. He didn't seem to see me at all. His eyes were black with a deadly thirst as he poised in a hunter's crouch, every fiber focused on Bella. Without a breath, he lunged! At her!

She was not my mate, but she was _my love _and I strove to protect her. The sound of thunder seemed to echo through the room as I blocked my first-created "son" and brother with my body as he sought to get past me to Bella.

"Edward! Stop it! What is the _matter_ with you!"

"Can't you _smell_ that?" he hissed just before coming in low to try to unbalance me.

I kicked him, cracking my shin on his jaw. It was enough to make him pause and shake his head to regain his bearings.

"Sorry!" Emmett and Jasper called in tandem as they burst through the door. Without another word, they pinned Edward to the floor.

"Carlisle, do you _know_ these people?" Bella peeked out from behind me, her hair brushing my skin, her fingers gripping my hips.

_Damn it! _ Pushing out a breath helped rid me of some of the tension as I enveloped Bella in my arms. "Yes, my love. My family has arrived."

* * *

**A/N: After this, just one more chapter and its short epilogue!**

**News: Check out the Scene Stealers Contest! It's new and I've been asked to judge. On FFn it's here: http : / / www. fanfiction. net /~ scenestealerscontest ...Just take out the spaces and you should have yourself a functioning url. lol **

**See you soon! ~LJ**


	6. Choices

**A/N: **Again, my thanks go to **Bells, duskwatcher, katmom and valelf** for their support of **Alex's Lemonade Stand** and the fight against pediatric cancers. This story would not be here without you! My thanks again to** u2shay** for her marvelous beta mojo and to **anndeveria** for her Italian assistance!

And here's the wrap… See you down below!

* * *

_**Chapter Six: Choices**_

**Carlisle POV**

Now that the immediate threat to Isabella had been handled, I could focus on the rapid-fire conversations being had upstairs, downstairs and outside. All while embracing Bella and endeavoring to reassure her.

The vampire mind is a marvelous thing in times of crisis.

"What is going on?" I demanded at conversational level so as not to frighten my dear girl further.

"The blood! I'm so sorry, Carlisle! Please – please make my apologies to her. I don't know what that was!" Edward's contrition came from the treeline, his voice projecting loudly enough for me to hear, but not for Isabella's ears.

"He's still growlin' and salivating," Jasper informed me at the same level. "Heh. Would you call that venomating? Doing my best to calm him down but it's not working so well."

Emmett's voice reached me next. "I felt like that when I – Oh, hell, Carlisle. Your lady friend in there is his singer!"

_Emmett_... We had a pact, he and I, not to ever mention that.

"Singer? What?" The question came from every member of my family save Emmett, the voices rebounding from the woods, the bath upstairs and Rosalie and Emmett's bedroom, where my blond sister was also muttering, "I told you so" under her breath.

"Carlisle?"

I realized only belatedly that in my interest in following the several conversations in and around the house, I had all but frozen, trapping my love in my arms. I loosened my muscles purposefully and swung her up so that our heads were level. "Isabella. Are you all right?" I scented adrenaline in her blood – she must have spiked it during her fright. Her abrasion from the night before was still bandaged – which was entirely a good thing – but there was blood on the sheets... That could _not_ have been helpful to Edward.

I shook that off when Bella burrowed into the slope of my shoulder. "I think so? Are you all right? He really nailed you. That was Edward? The one you called your firstborn? The mind-reader?"

Sliding her back down so that her feet were on the floor again, I relished the heat her body gave off, the warmth she loaned me even briefly. "I'm fine," I murmured, inhaling her delectable scents. "He apologized, by the way. He was not quite himself. Normally, Edward is quite a gentleman," I added for his benefit. None of the rest of the family demurred. "Why don't you, ah, get ready to meet the rest of the family and I'll find out how he's doing? Don't worry," I said, rubbing the back of her neck with my fingers. "I can do that while staying here and making sure you're safe, all right?"

"Kiss me first. I think I need a kiss," she whispered. From the tentative nature of her look and voice, I suspect she thought she was being quiet enough to keep her request from the rest of the family.

I didn't disabuse her of the notion; she had been traumatized enough. Instead, I yielded to her and to my own wish to taste and touch her. To reassure her. "I love you," I murmured into the delicate curve of her ear. "My timing may be not be all that it should be, but please believe that I do."

Her heartbeat quickened, pounding into me as if to share its life with my own, undead heart. "I love you, too. You're the most amazing man."

Cupping her face tenderly in both my cool hands, I studied her eyes. Deep, beautiful brown. Warm and sweet and smiling for me. I sighed, sending my breath over her skin to ease and relax her. "Much as I'd love to delve into this with you," I went on, keeping my voice quiet, "I do need to talk to Edward. Get some things straightened out."

"He's not going to do that again, is he?"

I frowned over her head, out the window. I couldn't see Edward, but I knew he was there somewhere. "No. But if you hear me talking when you're done with your shower, it's because I'm talking to him. I'll be in this room at all times."

"All right," she said, speaking so that her lips slid over the bare skin of my chest as they moved. "I'll be fine. I'll just get myself put together."

"Don't be nervous about meeting them."

She pushed back from me a little, a droll smile curling her lip. "Don't you dare tell me they don't bite."

"Most of us don't!" Alice called from the suite she and Jasper shared in the other wing.

Bella's face bloomed with color. "Carlisle!"

Laughing, I swung her up in my arms and whisked her into the bath. "Fact of life in this house now, darling."

She eyed me through her lashes as I set her down next to the shower. "I should have taken advantage of you weeks ago, apparently."

I was still laughing when she dashed from the bathroom to retrieve her backpack.

Once she was in the shower, I flashed to the window where I could see Edward, Emmett and Jasper. They all lifted a hand in my direction to let me know they were prepared for this rather unconventional conference.

"Edward. Have you heard of the the phrase _la tua cantante_?"

"The Singer? Yes. Emmett used that term. What _is_ it? What is _she_?"

They were on this side of the stream, but he could still hear me when I opened the window a little. "She's just a human who smells particularly good, Edward. But to you, she is your singer. Let me – let me show you what I know."

I slipped into my memories and let them flow through my mind so that Edward could see them and share with his brothers. _Our_ brothers. They would need to know because I would need everyone's help to protect my Bella.

**[+]**

I was in Volterra, Italy in the year 1727. Technically, Italy was ruled by Austria at the time, but in Volterra, the only voices that truly mattered were the ones belonging to Aro, Marcus and Caius. The Three,_ I tre fratelli Volturi _as they were called, were the most powerful vampires in the world and they cultivated gifted vampires that they met or heard about through their connections. They regarded me as a harmless, inquisitive oddity that eventually became a friend so I was allowed to linger with these "civilized" vampires for many years.

A human had been found by the huntress of the day. A human who had seemed to sense the danger imparted by the vampire who was assigned to catch the humans for feeding. Such a sensitivity was something Aro had trained his minions to seek so that he could gather more "gifted" vampires into his coven. Emilio was just such a man.

He entered the round, cavernous chamber with wide eyes and faltering steps. Yes, he sensed the danger presented by the vampires. There were only four, including myself. The Three and Jane were gathered together, wearing dark clothing as they usually did for these "audiences."

"Welcome, Emilio," Aro began, stepping forward with his hands extended as if in greeting. Of course, he did this to gain the advantage over the other person, making sure he could read their thoughts before they knew what he was doing. "So kind of you to –"

A feral growl ripped through the room. It was low but distinctly feminine. Before Caius could stop her, before Marcus could do more than gasp with sympathy, the tiny pain-wielder had run across the chamber and thrown herself at the hapless human. I was appalled at the savagery she displayed and turned away. Normally a neat drinker, Jane was bestial in this feeding.

Obviously incensed, Aro would have torn her from the young man but she directed her malevolent gaze at him and he cried out briefly. "Caius!"

"No. Let her be," Marcus whispered, hands in fists at his sides. "She couldn't help it. I could see the bond immediately."

"Bond? What _bond_!" Aro demanded.

"_La tua cantante,_ brother... He was her singer and she could no more fight his call than I could..."

I approached Marcus privately later. "What did you mean, about _The Singer_?"

He leaned against the stone wall of his private chamber, steepling his fingers together as if his hands contained the mysteries of a cathedral in their stony recesses. "They are very rare, young Carlisle. We do not speak of them because it would be too tempting for the average vampire. Too tempting to seek out a singer. We risk exposure, you see, if we do so. As you saw with Jane earlier, there is no controlling the instant need to drain the Singer of all life."

"I saw, but why?"

"We are born with a burning thirst," he went on as if I hadn't spoken. His voice was brittle, like parchment, but he spoke with heavy wisdom. "A thirst that will not abate in our entire existence. How you, with your unusual diet, do not go mad I don't know, but the burn is there for us all. There is only one way to slake it in a lasting way and that is to drink the blood that has been grown for the vampire. The one true fragrance, taste - however such things are measured, I do not know. But it can happen that the call of the blood of such a one is uniquely powerful to just one vampire. And if he drinks of the blood of his Singer – the one whose blood truly reaches to the innermost predatious part of the vampire – the burn is vanquished. Quenched. We suffer with it no longer."

I was dumbfounded and looked it, I knew. "But how?"

A minute shrug. "I know not. I only know that – that I met my Singer long ago. She was an old woman. She was working the fields and her blood sang on the breeze. I ran to her, fed from her and was amazed that, days later, I had no burn. No real desire to feed. I do, of course. I do need to sustain myself but you might have noticed," he said, a sly smile on his lips as he finally met my eyes, "that I am not ravenous. Nor do I feed on more than one human at a time. Really, Carlisle, you are perhaps the only vampire I could tell this to without the fear of exposure."

**[+]**

"Did you ever meet your Singer, then?" Jasper asked. I could hear the yearning in his voice. Out of all of us, he would perhaps be the most blessed by his Singer. And I would probably be more inclined to overlook it if he encountered that unfortunate human in a dark alley somewhere...

"I did. I met _il mio cantante_ in New York City in 1804. And no, I did not drink from her. I ran. I ran west and didn't stop running for three days." I smiled through the opening in the window. "And for the next sixty years, I refused to return to the Atlantic coast." Sixty years of knowing I could extinguish the fire in my throat. Sixty years of knowing my work as a physician would be many times easier. Sixty years of feeling a pull to where she was...and ignoring it.

Sixty years... The number would haunt me, now. Bella's life would be so short... I refused to mourn for her already though, so I tucked the phrase away and tried to lock it behind an iron door in my mind.

The shower shut off. "I will have to take Bella home, Edward. Go hunting. We'll meet back here when you're sated. You know where she lives, all of you. Steer clear of Forks entirely, all right?"

They nodded and disappeared beyond my sight within moments.

* * *

**Bella POV**

Bliss. Sleep. Dreams surpassing anything _ever_. Memories flirted with imagination as I lay in that hazy state between awake and dreaming. The cool wonder of Carlisle Cullen slipped away and I whined about it, but his lips sent the whining away...

His lips. I never would have thought that such cool perfection could make me so hot. But he didn't remain cold all night, no. He explained, as he nuzzled me, how my heat transferred to him much like the sun's did to the boulder. "So I'll absorb it carefully," he had teased, beginning at my ankles and then the backs of my knees... I never knew that was an erogenous zone! He purred as he pressed his nose and cheek up my inner thighs. But he didn't go for the easy thrill... Or taste, for that matter...

"Am I bleeding? Is it - hard for you?" I whispered as he held me firmly motionless to the mattress. "I can go clean up?"

His purr vibrated the entire bed. The man _purred_ and it was the sexiest thing ever. The first time it had happened while we got rather carried away in the driveway after the movies. I don't know if he did it on purpose that time, but he had been demonstrably pleased with my response to it and the purrs commenced whenever he was seeking to elicit another response like that in me. _Hot and bothered _was the term my mother used, in her first "sex talk" with me when I was eight. It was pretty damned accurate, considering!

Carlisle had proceeded to demonstrate, with a most intimate in-bed manner, just where the strongest scent-points were on my body. He murmured them to me in French, which was just dizzying and sexy and amazing. His lips slid over my skin, his tongue skimming likewise. "You have the most wonderful taste," he murmured. "Salt and sweet and floral and musky. I can't describe it but my senses," he had added with a flirtatious smile, "are acute."

I could hardly breathe as he painlessly devoured me and then...he came to me again, more slowly than our first time. Watching me, his eyes burning gold in the shadows of his room. Holding me, showing me how to move with him without hurting my soft skin against his hard musculature.

He had growled and groaned my name, rattling the windows. I had screamed his, in surprise and fulfillment.

_Three times._

Later, he rose to clean up and I heard him go, preferring to remain in my half-sleepy state. It was dark but I felt morning coming even so. Charlie would be freaking out...or not...

I had every intention of laying about as the sun rose, hopefully with my vampire lover. Sounded like something out of a clichéd novel, but there it was. There _I _was.

Until a door slammed downstairs and I heard a growl.

Someone had broken into this house! Carlisle's house! Someone had _broken in_! I knew, as a cop's kid, that most home invasions took place between two and five in the morning.

And then I heard a sound like rushing wind downstairs and was terrified.

"Carlisle!" I ran, managing somehow not to fall down, and met Carlisle at the bathroom door just as the invader crashed into the bedroom and the newcomer – a pale man like Carlisle, with hair a strange shade of red-gold-brown as the bathroom light hit it – half-shouted, half-growled something about trying to outrun him.

And then there was a fight and now I was finishing my shower. A strange morning, before the sun even warmed the sky.

"I would rather not wake up like this again," I muttered as I combed my hair out in front of the mirror, "if it's all the same to you."

He knocked softly on the bathroom door. "Edward's gone hunting with Jasper and Emmett. I should take you home."

I studied my face in the mirror. No more fear lingered in my eyes, but I felt that I looked older, somehow. Older and wiser and ... Even without the sex hair, I felt like last night was on display for everyone to see, there in my eyes. Well. I knew what I was getting into! I just hadn't expected the morning to go the way it had.

"Come in."

He did, and I could see the morning light filtering into the room behind him. "Feeling all right?" he asked, coming behind me and wrapping his arms about my torso to hold me against his chest. We eyed each other in the mirror, his expression hopeful and thoughtful as different ideas crossed behind his eyes. "You know you're safe now, right?"

"I know, and yes, I'm fine. I love you," I reminded him, smiling and hoping to make him smile, too. Ah, there it was, the smile I was looking for. The one that made the golden glow shine so brightly in his gaze. "So what now? The awkward meet the family moment?"

He shook his head and stepped away a little before taking my hand and leading me from the bathroom. "No. I need to get you home. Your father, Charlie –"

"Will understand. I mean, he may not be ecstatic," I elaborated with a smile, thinking of Charlie's probable facial expressions, "but he's not going to go all shotgun-wedding, either."

Carlisle chuckled. "Well, that's a relief. I'd hate to have to fake a bullet wound." Then, he sobered. "I wanted you to be home and safe while Edward is hunting far away from Forks. Then, we're going to have a meeting, my family and I."

I saw that he had collected my articles of clothing and left them in a neat pile at the foot of the now-stripped bed. "About what happened?" I inquired with what I hoped was delicacy. Edward was Carlisle's "son" or "brother" and I didn't feel that saying, _"About how to keep your brother from drooling venom on me in the future?"_ was very nice. "You said I'd be safe, now."

"For now, yes, but the...situation isn't going to go away, Bella. It's...well..." He appeared very uncomfortable, his face tightening and his brow furrowed. "I'm glad I'm off today. It could take some time to figure out what to do."

I was growing irritated at this _Left in the Dark_ feeling I was getting. "Carlisle. Spill it. I have a right to know."

He sighed heavily and nodded. "You're right. Call your father, if you would, so he won't be worrying about you. I'll tell you everything and you can join us in our meeting. None of my family would gainsay your right to have all the facts."

I heard something crash somewhere in the house but – other than exchanging a dubious look with the patient and incredible doctor who was fishing my cell phone out of my bag for me – didn't say anything.

I punched a number into my phone. "Dad?"

"Bells! You okay?" Some clomping sounds. "Ah, hell, hon. You didn't even come home?" He sounded disappointed in me and I winced. Carlisle brushed the back of my free hand with his lips and looked apologetic.

"Carlisle's family got in, Dad, and everyone was catching up and stuff. They arrived _days_ earlier than anticipated." I managed to sound regretful. Because I was, dammit!, but also because it would distract Charlie a little.

It worked. I could hear him chuckle. "That must have put a kink in your plans for the evening?"

"Ew! Dad! Let's just – just _not_, okay?"

He sounded much less disappointed when he agreed. "You _will_ be home for dinner, right?" he asked. As much to tell me he'd really rather I stay home that evening than to find out if I was cooking, I was pretty sure.

"I think so. I'll call, okay?"

"Okay. Later, Bells."

"So tell me," I demanded of Carlisle once I had taken care of that business. "Tell me what happened with Edward."

Regret flared in his eyes. "Bella... I don't want you to be frightened. To feel like you have to live in fear. I just – I feel terrible. And there's nothing I can do about it." He moved to sit in the middle of the bare mattress and beckoned to me. I crawled over to him and settled myself on his lap. "It's your blood, sweetheart. You are a rare woman, calling to my heart and to Edward's – appetite."

That squicked me out and I shifted uncomfortably within Carlisle's marble arms. "What? What kind of appetite?" My mind flew over the possibilities. Edward was secretly not a vegetarian and he wanted to drain me dry. He was a member of the Volturi that Carlisle had told me about and he wanted to take me to them for some unknown reason. He was nursing some deep abandonment issues with his grief over the loss of a family member and wanted me dead...

"You're his Singer, Bella." At my blank expression, he curled himself even more closely around me and explained all about it.

"I met the Volturi in 1720..."

* * *

**Carlisle POV:**

The scene sliced at me with poignant memories, for it was all too familiar aside from the one important difference. Sitting in the living room, on neutral-hued sofas and chairs, my family looked to me and to the woman who sat beside me, tucked under my arm. Edward was holding the remains of Bella's sweater that he had scented on his hunt. I had forgotten it, but fortunately his brothers were with him.

_Are you sure you're all right, Edward?_ I inquired silently.

"The sweater helps," he murmured in a voice so quiet that Bella could not hear him. He did not wish to distress her further. "Jasper's keeping an eye on me."

My own focus went to Jasper, who sat within reach of Edward. Alice sat next to him. The pair were a powerful duo. Alice smiled at Bella, her face alight. "It's so good to see you, Bella! I've heard so much about you!"

Bella smiled, her tone wry when she said, "I hear you've also seen a lot about me, too."

Alice giggled and stretched her legs to wiggle her feet. "I have! We need to have a girls' night out!"

Jasper laughed and kissed his wife on the top of her head. "Watch out, Bella. Alice has been _very_ eager to meet you."

"Girls' night," grumbled Rosalie. "Look, Bella Swan. I have nothing against you personally. I don't even know you, right?"

Under my arm, Bella stiffened, her heart speeding up in response to Rose's hostility. "So what's the problem?"

"You're human. You don't belong with Carlisle. Nothing personal."

"_Species_ profiling?" Bella snapped, huffing loudly.

I didn't want to allow this rift to grow, so I shot a look at Rosalie. "Enough," I said beyond Bella's range of hearing. I pressed Bella lightly into my side to reassure her. "All right. We have a problem," I said in a more normal tone. "What are our options?"

"What kind of alternatives did Marcus give?" Alice wondered. Her gift only extended into the future, not the past.

I shook my head. "None. That I ran from my Singer would appall him, I'm fairly certain."

Edward's eyes went black immediately and I could sense the sharp spike of tension in the room. Bella's adrenal level kicked up several notches as well. I smoothed my fingers on the heated skin of her bare arm but kept myself from artificially affecting her mood with any of my known vampire techniques.

"I can't run for sixty years, Carlisle," my long-time companion informed me flatly.

"Marcus only gave the opportunity of – Sorry, Bella – killing the Singer. I refuse to accept that."

Bella chuckled. "Thanks for that. I appreciate it." The family laughed softly in appreciation of her. Except for Edward. He winced, clutching the sweater in his hands and tearing holes through it with his fingers. Bella continued. "Okay, so no killing the human. What else can we do?"

"What about turning her?" Emmett suggested, his expression open. He deliberately did not look at Rosalie. "Take the temptation away, you know?"

"Turn me? Make me a vampire?" Bella stilled in the curve of my arm, her heart stuttering in her breast as she slowly, slowly brought her eyes to meet mine. "Seriously? That'd be the only way? But...that's a world of pain, you said so yourself. And...and I'd have to, like, hunt house cats because there's no way on earth I could hunt like you," she said, disbelief edging her words.

Rose jumped to her feet, her legs thirty-inches apart, her hands balled into fists. "No! Don't even think it, Bella. Better to _die_ than wind up like this!"

Emmett rose to her side, pulling her tightly against him with both arms. I don't know if he was trying to get her to stop or thinking to protect Bella or what was on his mind. "Rosie. Come on. Carlisle loves her and she loves him. Shouldn't everyone have a chance to love someone like that?"

Rosalie tossed her head and pulled herself out of Emmett's arms. Crossing her own, she glared at Bella. "She can find love somewhere else. It's not like she's his _mate_. _Esme_ was his _mate_."

Bella cringed visibly and I instinctively drew her up on my lap. As with Emmett, I didn't know if I was protecting her or myself or some vague sense of the situation. "You're not helping," I informed my sister.

"What are our options?" Edward demanded. He was growing visibly more agitated. Suddenly, a soothing sort of invisible blanket seemed to cover all of us. Edward blew out a breath. "Thank you, Jasper. So. What are they?"

I brushed Bella's temple with a kiss. "She doesn't wish to be turned, so that limits us. We either keep you away from her or keep you under some sort of guard until..." I couldn't say it. I loved her and even knowing she was human and believing she should remain human, I couldn't utter the words that would hint at the ending of her life. Not now.

Bella's voice was cool and distant. "Until I die? That's not a good option for any of you."

I inhaled deeply of her. "I could stay with him, Isabella. We all would. The preservation of human life is paramount."

"But what about me?" She didn't even turn to look at me and I felt as if she were pulling away from me, even now. It hurt, deep in my chest.

"Alice?"

She was uncharacteristically subdued, her elfin body curled in on itself. "I can't see anything. No one's made a decision, yet. Not even Edward."

Jasper met my gaze and grimaced before saying rapidly, "Bella's withdrawing, Carlisle. Like her emotions are hiding or something. It's not something I've ever felt before."

_Edward? What is she thinking? I hadn't thought to ask before, with all that happened._

"I can't hear her," he rasped. He directed his entire, black-eyed focus on Bella. "Why can't I _hear_ you?"

"Isabella?" I whispered. "Darling, where have you gone?"

"Away. You're leaving, aren't you?" She didn't move, her hollow voice barely carried from her lips, but we all heard her.

"We could just let Edward drink you," Rose muttered. "He'd be happier."

"Enough!" the family shouted. Even Edward.

"She's not Carlisle's mate! It won't hurt him like it did, before. That's all I care for. _My_ _family_!" Rose stomped her foot hard enough to crack the floor through the carpeting before taking off at a blurred speed through the house and out the back door.

Bella slid from my lap, rising to her feet with an isolated dignity I had never before seen in her. "Take me home please, Carlisle. I – I need to go home."

Could a vampire feel sick to his stomach? I thought it might be possible as I moved to comply with her request. We had to discuss this, but I could understand that it would be overwhelming for her in front of the family. In heavy silence, we went through the house to the garage. She refused to even look at me as I drove slowly down the drive and out to the main road.

I could not let the silence be all there was between us. "What is it? Bella, love, I need you to talk to me."

After a tiny shudder passed through her body, she whispered, "I'm not your mate. I know that. I _knew_ that, too. I did." Her eyes closed so that her wet lashes rested on pale cheeks.

It wasn't the Singer issue that was distressing her. _Depressing_ her too, if I knew anything at all about the manifestations of that condition on the human physiognomy. The rigid way she held her lips contrasted with the slackness of her Masseter muscles, which was a problem, combined with her uncharacteristic disquiet of spirit.

"Bella, would to heaven that I could lie and tell you differently. I am so sorry that Rosalie's notions and her method of expressing them were so caustic. I would never want to hurt you."

She shook her head with a tiny motion and I pulled off the highway on a private drive. No one had used it for months, by its appearance. I willed her to look at me, but she didn't. She just kept her eyes shut. I could see and smell the tears that slid from under her eyelids, though. "You didn't hurt me. It's just the way things are, I guess. I was stupid."

"Never!"

"But I was. I had this idea that – never mind." Abruptly, she shivered and opened her eyes. "I don't want to live forever without you."

"I love you," I reminded her, taking her hand in both of mine. "I do. Bella..." I waited for her to glance my way. She did, eventually; her curiosity overpowered her pride, I imagined. "Isabella, I want to spend the rest of your life with you, don't you know that? I want to watch you hang your shingle in some tiny town somewhere and be the kind of doctor you want to be. I'll join you. For as long as you'll have me, as long as you live. I could leave you, if you insisted, to keep Edward away from you, but I'd prefer to watch over you from a _much closer_ vantage point." With the last four words, I moved nearer to her in the confines of the car.

The color returned to her skin. "So...you don't want to leave me? I mean, I know I've got college and you're here in Forks and that's all human and fine and everything, but..." She tentatively touched my face with her fingertips. They were cooler than normal, but I imagined that was normal, considering her distress. "You'll let me be human and stay anyway? Blood and all?"

"There's not a question of letting you stay human, sweetheart. You _are_ human. It's how we are all _intended_ to be, unless tragedy strikes."

"What about when I get old?" Her laugh was broken. "Or I guess if I bore you, you could always call Edward..." She laughed again, more freely this time. "Or not?"

I breathed more easily and leaned in even closer to nuzzle her hair and whisper kisses along the side of her face and neck. "You will never bore me. Trust me. And as for getting old...?" I waited until she swung her gaze up to meet mine and then I smiled. "Isabella, I am three hundred and seventy years old. I think that says it all."

"But wrinkles and gray hair and..."

"And wisdom and beauty and a lifetime of memories. You will always be beautiful to me."

"So I guess we better figure out a way to take care of Edward and deal with my blood."

I pressed my lips to her skin one final time before pulling back out onto the highway. The morning sun was hidden behind a high cloud cover as we drove to Bella's house. The Chief's cruiser was not in evidence. Just as I keyed off the engine, Bella turned to me with an incandescent smile.

"Come in! I just had an idea!"

"What?"

"About the blood thing," she said, rolling her eyes as if it were the most obvious topic in the world. "I just need to look something up."

"At the risk of sounding like the cock of the walk," I offered as I handed her out of the car, "why don't you ask me?"

She tugged me by the hand and tossed me another brilliant smile. "Because I want to look it up myself. And then if I'm wrong I don't have to tell you... You're not the mind-reader in the family!"

That she had been able to bounce right back and tease me about just this topic astounded me and left me in something close to awe as we entered her home. I followed her up the stairs and into her bedroom. I couldn't help but measure the bed with my eyes immediately, thinking seriously that I wanted her to have something larger and then just as swiftly realizing her small room would not hold a queen-sized bed, much less a king. Just as well. It would make me uneasy to make love to Charlie's unwed daughter under his roof.

Why was it better under my own? I was master of my own home, of course. And it just...felt better.

"All right! Now, where's the calculator," Bella was saying. Propped up against the headboard of her narrow bed, she had her laptop angled between her abdomen and thighs. Her eyes glowed as she tapped lightly away on her keyboard. I did notice she hit the space bar rather harder, as well as every key with the smallest finger of her right hand. She was maneuvering well, considering her recent incapacitation in that arm.

"The suspense is killing me," I remarked, coming to perch at the foot of her bed. "What are you doing?" I refused to cheat and speed up and back to peek; I wanted her to tell me what was making her so happy.

"Three hundred and ninety two days!" she all but shouted in her personal triumph. Closing her computer, she beamed at me. "You said the only way to quench the burn is to drain the Singer, right? And the average human carries around eight pints of blood. So what if he had access to eight pints of Vintage Singer Bella Swan?"

I was horrified and jumped abruptly to my feet. I had to pace. The idea just made me so uncomfortable I could barely think straight all of a sudden. "No," I ground out. "I can't let you do that. No."

She laughed lightly and rolled awkwardly from the bed to cross the small floor and embrace me. Her hands slipped under my shirt and pressed firmly against my stomach. I felt myself relax, all unwilling as she spoke into my back. "Carlisle, listen. I can have my blood drawn by the Red Cross once every fifty six days. You know my blood type, right?"

"AB positive. One of the rarest."

"I know. The Red Cross loves me, but my weight is right on the edge of eligibility for public donations. Still. I can donate and you could store the blood, couldn't you? Somewhere? It would be three hundred and ninety-two days from the time I donated the first pint until I donated the last. My body would replenish itself and no harm would come to me. Edward would be able to drink a full body-weight of blood. And his thirst would be quenched, right?"

I saw the possibilities as she offered them and turned them over in my mind. "Isabella," I whispered, turning in her arms to take her in mine. "That's brilliant. I don't know why it wouldn't work..." I was uneasy but couldn't think of why that might be. Perhaps because Bella's blood was such a precious commodity and I hated to have her even thinking about giving it up to the craving of a vampire. Even one as dear to me as Edward.

"Do you want to do it?"

I laughed lightly and rested my chin on her hair. An entirely human gesture, it came naturally to me when I was with her. "Yes. I think I'd have a hard time trusting anyone else. Do you trust me to do it?" I teased, knowing the answer.

She smoothed her hands over me until they were clasped behind my neck. "I trust you with my life, Dr. Cullen. I thought you knew that."

"I love you." It was a sentence that could not be said too often in the short span of a human life. As I melded my mouth to hers, taking in the living, breathing heat of her, I imagined the life we would have together. For however many years we were given. It would be beautiful. Short and vibrant and dynamic in its every hour.

"I'll love you for as long as I live," she assured me. "And maybe even longer."

* * *

_**Epilogue: Changes**_

**Bella POV**

My idea was an utter failure. I should have known it would be – such an easy solution could not serve for such a complicated need. Carlisle did some judicious testing and discovered that freezing my blood damaged it and made it unpalatable. Even a gradual reheating process was unsuccessful. He tried separating it, red blood cells from white, platelets, plasma...

Edward came into Carlisle's home-lab and got a whiff of Vintage Singer, 2010 and tore off in a frenzy. I discovered that he is faster than any of the others in the family. A family I consider my own.

I have to consider them as my own, now. I am one of them.

It happened in the middle of the night, when vampires were awake and busying themselves with one thing or another. Carlisle had taken me back to school after a long weekend in November and was staying with me in my solitary dorm room. I hadn't allowed him to lease me an apartment, so he pulled strings with the housing administration on campus to garner me a corner room without a roommate.

I didn't complain. There were many worse things in life than having a handsome, energetic man spend the night!

He had taken the latest pint of blood with which to experiment – they were _experiments_ at that point, rather than actual storage options – and we were back in Seattle. In my bed, deliciously spent. I was exhausted; Carlisle was luminescent in the light from the moon that shone on his beautiful skin. A bar of Lindt chocolate rested on my nightstand; he had presented it to me earlier with a sexy grin that made me tingle.

"I could get used to this," I told him.

He rolled me onto his stomach and pushed my hair off of my face. His expression was expectant, but serious. "If you'd marry me, you could grow very used to it."

It was such a casual proposal from such a formal man that I didn't believe it at first. But then, he whisked out a ring from his pants pocket on the floor...

Celebrating _us_ took precedence over anything else that night and into the dark hours of the morning. Which was why, I believe, Carlisle didn't hear Edward coming. There was no fight to speak of. Edward was a vampire in pursuit of his Singer and he wasted no motion in obtaining what his body craved. I understood that and didn't hold it against him. Not when he tore me from Carlisle's arms. Not when he caught a sheet in one hand and leapt from my window with me in his other arm. Not when he ran off with me into the dark, somehow wrapping me up to cover my nakedness as he sped through the misty pre-dawn of morning.

"He's coming for you, but he won't be here in time. Not quite."

I felt my eyes burn with hopeless tears. "I wanted to say _goodbye_, Edward. He just asked me to be his _wife_."

I guessed we were in some kind of private park or something, because it was entirely silent where we stopped. Without relinquishing his grip for a moment, Edward settled up against a tree. "I'm truly sorry, Bella. I am. I know you tried."

While I burned, I came to realize through Carlisle and Alice that Edward had done his best to save me. He ran slowly enough to allow Carlisle to catch up to us before he ravaged my neck. He spoke to me, containing his fierce desire for my blood, to give his sire time to reach us. Edward wanted to give me a chance.

But not enough to refrain from drinking. I was whispering Carlisle's name over and over as long as I could once Edward's teeth cut through my skin like a hot knife through soft cheese. It didn't even hurt at first. It was just so _final_. I felt so _hopeless_. All I could hear was my heartbeat and Edward's desperate, feral growling against my skin. I was dying, dying. My life was passing into the body of a vampire and all I could do was cry fruitlessly as my heart fought to keep beating.

Until the voice of an angel – an angry angel who could have been Kenneth Branagh in another time and place, maybe – called into the darkness. "Isabella! _God, help me! _ Edward. You _must_ stop!"

Then it was that Edward made his choice. He started exchanging my blood for his venom at the very last moments.

Carlisle told me that Edward ran faster than the wind to get me back to Forks. I don't know. I do know that my change took a mere forty hours. Unheard of. But it was also unheard of for a vampire to change his Singer, so I give Edward full marks for restraint.

Yes, really.

Studying anatomy with Dr. Cullen is much more interesting than any college class, though I'll have to go back to school eventually, when I can. For now, I am learning of all the muscles in the human anatomy. I can trace them with my tongue on the model of his perfect, quartz-like body.

"Isabella..." Carlisle moans when I pass these "pop-quizzes." "You will be the death of me."

"I'd rather be your life, instead."

On that, we are in perfect agreement.

_**The End.**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**Yes, this is the end. It was originally going to be a one-shot of seven thousand words but it grew…! Thank you so much for reading and rec'ing this auction fic. I had a terrific time with it. ~LJ**_


End file.
